2008 Book Club

The Butterfly

2008-05-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

"The Butterfly"

Written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco

Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Age Range: 4 to 8

Summary:

The story takes place in France and begins with Monique peering out her window looking at her village being occupied by Nazi troops. During the night, she wakes up to find this little ghost at the end of her bed. When Moniques attempts to talk to this little ghost, the little ghost just runs away. The next morning Monique can’t wait to tell her mom what she witnessed. However, her mom who rarely gets upset seems almost angry at this remark and assures Monique that it was only a dream. When Monique arrives at school, she tells her best friend Denise about the ghost. On the way home that day, they stop off the store of Monsier Mark’s candy shop. Even though most of the jars that used to be filled with candy are now empty due to the war, Monsieur Marks hands them candy he saved for them. As they walk outside the store, the two girls hear the clicking boots of the soldiers and witness Monsier Mark get taken by the Nazi soldiers. The girls run to Monique’s house and begin to sob as they ask why the soldiers are taking such a good man as Monsier Mark. Although they knew these things happened before, the girls were distraught that it happened to Monsier Mark. Her mother tells them that the Nazis hate the Jews, even though it’s pointless and cruel. Many nights pass until Monique seees the little ghost again by her bed. This time they talk and Monique finds out that Sevrine and her family have been hiding in her basement. One day, Monique is out in the garden when she spots a beautiful butterfly. While she’s admiring the beautiful garden and butterfly, some soldiers come over and crush the butterfly right in front of her. Scared, Monique runs to her mom and asks if this is what they are planning to do to Monsier Marks. This is when Monique begins to understand the sadness and fear in Sevrine’s eyes. From that day on, Sevrine comes out of hiding every night to play with Monique. Monique collects things from the outside world for Sevrine to feel and touch. One night, as they are setting free a butterfly out the window, a neighbor spots them. They both run to Monique’s mom and let her know what has happened. That same night Sevrine and her family depart so they are not discovered hiding. Weeks pass and Monique hopes that Sevrine and her family are safe. Finally one day she gets a sign from Monique. A bunch of monarch butterflies land in her garden and Monique just knows that Sevrine sent them and that the are safe now.

Reflection:

Drawing from her own's family history, Patricia Polacco delivers a personal and touching story. Although the book is listed for children between 4 - 8 years of age, this is a book that older children and adults will appreciate. The story is filled with lots of themes which include the beauty of friendship, being different, being compassionate, the use of symbolism, discrimination, and courageness. The illustrations of the book are beautiful and adequately depict the mood of each event as the story unfolds. This book is rich in so many themes that it's an excellent book to introduce many different themes in our society but also a way to introduce children to WWII and the French occupation.

The Family Under the Bridge

2008-04-15T20:19:00.000-07:00

The Family Under the Bridge
Written by Natalie Savage Carlson
Pictures by Garth Williams
Presented by Jackie, Joanne, & Katie  

  The story is about a homeless man named Armand, who says he is  homeless by choice. He likes living his life without having a job - and says children are like starlings and it's better to live without  them. One day three children and their mother move out under the bridge in  "his spot." When Armand discovers this he is very upset and  tries to kick the children out. But the children do not understand  completely, so they try to appease him by making him "his own room."  The mother comes back and is protective, and does not appreciate Armand  being there. She tells him to leave and never come back. However,  Armand is touched by the children and their situation - he feels the  need to help them out. He takes them to see Santa Claus and the  children ask Santa to give them a real home.  As Armand grows to love the children more and more, he realizes that  in order to provide for them he will need to get a job and have a real  home. So he gets a job as a caretaker of a building, which comes with  the added benefit of a free home. 

In our reflection, it makes us think about the different reasons for  homelessness and whether or not it is actually a personal choice or  true helplessness. In addition, it also touches on lifestyles that are  not socially acceptable, like the gypsy lifestyle. One thing that was  surprising, was a strong lack of a parental role due to the mother  going off and working - leaving the children there. The duty she had  to bring home the bread caused her to neglect them in a sense. At one  point, her children are almost taken away from her as a result. This  was a very touching story about a man discovering who he really was a nd what really mattered to him - "his heart grew three sizes."  One of the things this book really seems to lend itself to is "the  conversation starter." You can go so many places within the realm of  social justice just by beginning that talk of what does socially  acceptable mean and how much worth should the phrase actually have. So  perhaps this is good to read in the beginning of the year to create a community for social justice. This can go into a unit on needs  and wants really well - what getting those things really means – and  it also shows kids who maybe do not see their parents/guardians as  often as they'd like why and what they are doing and that it is for  them. 

Domains of Social Justice  
1.Self-love and Acceptance: Children are able to explore self-love and acceptance through Armand’s gradual acceptance of and loving himself and those around him.
2.Respect for Others: This book displays the respect and diversity of various cultures, particularly the gypsy culture. it also allows students to explore “social acceptance” and moreover, students are able to understand other people's needs and their own – it can help students explore and notice perspectives of their surrounding cultures and their own.
3.Exploring Issues of Social Justice: This book allows students to explore issues of homelessness, different types of families, poverty, hunger,  sexism, ageism, and classism -they can even go further in learning about how each of these are interrelated to one another.
4.Social Movements and Social Change:  Students can explore and learn how people have struggled for social change. Students can learn about the various factors that lead to homelessness and poverty and its effects on people in the present. Students can explore and learn about the similarities and differences in the -isms that exist in the book (written in the ninteen fifties) to the present time [there's about a fifty year time gap]. Students can research and learn about what people have done and have been doing to not only reach out to people affected by poverty/homelessness/hunger and -isms, but also expose others to the ramification of these issues, including various family models.
5.Taking Social Action: Students can take in and implement their learnings on social justice issues by creating a community showcase of presentations. Also, they can focus on homelessness and poverty in their own community and go further into seeking ways to make a difference and exploring the idea of “socially acceptable” and “needs and wants” through concrete and visible evidences around them. They can seek out organizations that are a part of their community to help them take social action through service and promotion – whether it is having a meeting/interview with those who work with the homeless population or going to a soup kitchen and serving and reporting back about their experiences through various means with the class.

Pinkalicious

2008-04-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

Title: Pinkalicious
Authors: Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann
Group: Amy Chan, Lilian Ng, Angelia Lui

Summary:
Pinkalicious loves the color pink. She wears pink, owns only pink things, and paints in pink all the time. The problem is, though, that black is the color that is considered “cool”, not pink, and all the other girls in her class tease her maliciously because of her love of everything pink. They also refuse to play with Pinkalicious because of this, leaving her to play alone after school. Pinkalicious becomes so upset by the teasing and the lack of friends that she goes home and cries, feeling like nobody understands her and that she is all alone in this world. She even decides to not like pink anymore, opting to wear blue instead and eating a plain vanilla ice cream, not her favorite Plum Pink Perfection ice cream. Then one day, Pinkalicious notices a girl in art class drawing a beautiful picture of a blue cake. Much to Pinkalicious’ surprise, the girl actually likes pink and even insists that it would be the perfect color to add to her picture. In the end, Pinkalici
ous has finally found someone who has accepted her for who she is, and they become friends.

Reflection:
At first sight, this book looks like a simple little children’s book, used for students no older than those in first grade. However, as we read the book a couple of times and looked through the pictures, there are a lot of hidden messages that can be discussed with third or even fourth graders. The simplicity of the text holds very sophisticated, in depth thoughts of peer pressure, feelings that children and people in general go through, being accepted/fitting in, and being yourself.
How the book can be used/curriculum units:
Activity 1: “The Power of Colors”
BEFORE introducing the book, have students brainstorm and/or freewrite about anything that comes up in their minds when they think of the color black. Then have them do the same with the color pink. AFTER reading the book, discuss: Why is black considered cool? Who decides on what the “cool” color is? As a project, students can take their favorite color and create a picture with only shades of that color. In writing, they will explain their picture. (the picture can be a reflection to the book)
Activity 2: “Fitting in, Being Accepted, and Being Who You Are”
This unit can start with discussing what peer pressure is. During this discussion, have students refer back to the book, and talk about how peer pressure affected Pinkalicious emotionally. How was Pinkalicious feeling when her favorite color was being made fun of? Although no one made fun of her when she was blue, how was she feeling then? Script writing and role plays can follow this discussion.
Activity 3: “Math with the Color Purple”
Using color dye, students can explore the different shades of purple using red, blue and white. They can record the number of drops of each color that it takes to make each shade of purple. Using the pattern they find, they will continue the number pattern using predictions. This activity can be an introduction to a lesson on skip counting, or multiplication.
Social Justice Curriculum:
1. Self-Love and Acceptance: Students will love themselves for who they are. They can relate to the text by thinking about the different situations that they have been in (examples: when they were teased, when they liked something that others did not) and look to Pinkalicious as a model that it is okay to be proud of who you are and what you like.
2. Respect for Others: Pinkalicious never ridiculed the others just because they wore black or were different. She was very proud of herself until they started to pick on her. The author addresses respect for others by showing that even though they specifically demonstrated to her that pink is not a cool color, Pinkalicious still respected what others favor, even when she does not like it herself.
3. Exploring issues of Social Justice: Students will tackle and learn more about acceptance, bullying, gender roles, and being an individual who is not afraid to be different rather than conforming to the norms of society or to what others believe are "the best."
4. Social Movements and Social Change: Students can explore the text and connect with personal experiences as well as the significant actions and emotions of significant figures. They can see the struggles that others went through in order to finally accept themselves and understand that they are not the only ones who struggle, but that they are the ones that need to take a stand for what they believe in.
5. Taking Social Action: Students will focus on their own classroom on how they can develop tools to work for change. As a first step, they will choose something that they truly believe in and love and may possibly be afraid to share with others (for example, a boy might say that he likes the color pink). They will make a booklet or a video about how this affects themselves and others by showing the importance of accepting oneself, despite what others say. If this is a great concern, anonymity may be used but there should be a section where the children are described individually by gender, maybe race, physical description, etc.

Smoky Night

2008-04-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

Mark Coccarelli
Yannery Gonzalez
Hannah Krueger

Smokey Night
By Eve Bunting

Link to where you can purchase book:http://www.amazon.com/Smoky-Night-Eve-Bunting/dp/0152018840/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207618761&sr=8-1

Summary: In this visually stimulating and thought-provoking story, Bunting tells of the horror and chaos that occurred during the Los Angeles riots through the eyes of a confused young boy. She never directly comes out and states that racial tensions exist in the community but through her nuances and use of symbolism, she gives the reader plenty to think about. This is a story about the importance of getting along with others and not letting past differences get in the way of getting to know someone.

Reflection: Smoky Night is a story the LA riots told from the eyes of a child. At the book’s core is the idea that there commonalities between us underneath our various exteriors. With visually stimulating illustrations and collage work the story is abstractly represented with artwork that and adds emphasis to certain aspects of the story. Smoky Night offers a positive outlook on how peace can come during hardship.

Book Use/Activities/Curricular Units: The book lends itself to various curricular elements including understandings about civil rights and the LA Riots. The book can offer discussion about prejudices and judgment as well as work as a tool for community building where students an understand differences and similarities between students within the class. The book also offers as an example of realistic fiction and may be used as a model in writing. Further, the book offers various work with symbolism and finding meaning in images.

Domain of Social Justice Education:
2.) Respect for Others- Strengthens intercultural competence. In the book during the time of crisis the characters realize they’re need for one another and the importance in getting to know each other despite cultural differences.

3.) Exploring Issues of Social Justice- Racism, Classism, Sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression are confronted. The characters in the book begin to talk tone another and find similarities between each other.

4.) Social Movements and Social Change- Students learn how people have struggled for social change. The characters come out of the crisis of the LA riots and offer friendship to each other, inviting one another over to their apartments.

This is the Dream by Diane Shore and Jessica Alexander

2008-04-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

Presented by Yerlina, Priya, and Liav

This book can be purchased at:
http://www.amazon.com/This-Dream-Diane-Z-Shore/dp/006055519X
Price: $12.74

From Publishers Weekly
Ransome (Satchel Paige) creates a striking juxtaposition of closely focused paintings and collage borders incorporating powerful historical photographs. These images will make a strong impression on readers of this expository chronicle of events preceding, during and following the civil rights movement, as Ransome's artwork makes large ideas comprehensible through visual details. The singsong rhythm and "House-that-Jack-Built" meter creates a chilling contrast to what's going on between the lines: "These are the buses—a dime buys a ride,/ but the people are sorted by color inside." Ransome shows the demarcation of the bus's white and black sections, and in a border across the top creates a collage of stirring portraits. Text and artwork similarly depict segrgated lunch counters, libraries and schools. One of the most powerful spreads portrays three black children stepping into a newly integrated school ("These are the students who step through the doors/ where people of color have not walked before"), Confederate flags flying, while a photocollage on the top edge shows the fractured images of angry white bystanders, effectively emulating a mob mentality. Concluding spreads demonstrate the contrast today, with images of a multiracial array of people waiting to use the same drinking fountain and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in one voice at school. This will provide a solid springboard for adult-child discussions, especially since younger readers might need help deciphering some of the poetic narrative's references. All ages.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Amistad (December 27, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 006055519X
ISBN-13: 978-0060555191
Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces

Reflections:

I found THIS IS THE DREAM to be very powerful, not just through the use of the words in the verses, but through the detailed and vibrant pictures accompanying the verses. Of all, I felt the title sent an extremely strong message to me as the reader, that today, we are living in is the dream people had struggled towards. As I read each page, I felt there were strong emotions of pain, sorrow, struggle and strength being exuded through the verses and through the pictures. Although each page captured a different emotion of mine, one of the pages that really resonated with me was the portrayal of the three African American students stepping foot on a territory that was not considered theirs until recently, a school that was becoming integrated. Alongside, there were various pictures of Caucasian students, teachers, etc. angrily watching as these students were entering. This page really resonated with me because it showed change in action, it depicted strength, courage and resistance and demonstrated the results of will power.

How I would use the book/activities/ curriculum:
This book would work well on several levels. It could be tied in during Black History month and/or during Poetry month. Students could write poems reflecting on their feelings after reading THIS IS THE DREAM , but rather than sharing it with the class they would have the option of keeping it for themselves. A whole unit on change can be created, and students can explore what took place in the past, the change that occurred as history progressed forward and how change is occurring today. As we mentioned in class, students should really be aware that change is constant, and change is in our hands.

1. Have students listen to a portion of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech. Talk about how this relates to the book. Was his dream realized? Have the students brainstorm ways that his dream could become even stronger today.
2. Civil Rights Leaders: Four civil rights leaders are pictured in the book. Have students work in groups and research how these individuals contributed to the civil rights movement. Have students look for other civil rights leaders.
3. Long Road to Equal Rights: Have students work on a time line for the civil rights movement. Give various events starting back with the constitution, abolishment of slavery, African Americans gaining the right to vote, integration of schools, etc. This will show students that equality for African Americans has been a long and challenging process.
4. Discrimination Today: Discuss the concept of discrimination. Have students list ways that people are still discriminated against today. What other groups are discriminated against?

Art- Have student use magazines, photographs and drawings to make their own collages to represent their reflections of this book.

Music-Find recordings or lyrics of these songs that were sung during the Civil Rights Movement. Have students write a brief journal about why they think the songs were important. ("Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing,"We Shall Overcome." "Oh, Freedom." "Only a Pawn in Their Game," "I'm on My Way." “How I Got Over.")

Domains of Social Justice:

Self-love and acceptance: Students learn to love and be proud of who they are and in doing so students should be encouraged to continue express themselves in a safe and positive manner. Through poetry or reflecting in their journals, asking questions, etc., students should be given the opportunity to take time and share their feelings and experiences whether it is privately or with the whole class. In THIS IS THE DREAM even though the African- Americans entered a new school which they knew they were they were not welcomed by everyone with open arms, they still maintained respect for themselves.

Respect for others: Towards the end of THIS IS THE DREAM there is an image of a group of people of various races waiting in line to use the same drinking fountain, depicting acceptance and showing the change that has occurred over the years.

Exploring issues of social justice: THIS IS THE DREAM addresses issues on racism and segregation, struggle and the power of change. It identifies the events the occurred prior to the Civil Rights Movement, during and after. More importantly, students can begin to explore the power they have to create change in the community.

Social Movements and social change: By reflecting on what has occurred, students can take a proactive approach about certain issues that might be occurring in their community (classroom, school, social community) and begin to discuss how they can create a positive change. Perhaps it would be best by beginning with something small, such as an issue that maybe occurring in the classroom (i.e. sharing). Students can learn to become aware that they are makers of change and that they have the power to change certain issues by working together and moving forwards with a positive attitude.

Related Books that could be used in addition to this could be read as an introductory lessons to Civil Rights, Rosa by Nikki Giovanni and excerpts from Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue with Today's Youth by Rosa Parks, The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, When Marian Sang by Pam Munoz Ryan

Additional Websites:
(1) 50 Years Later: Brown v. Board of Education
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3586
Commemorate the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling with free online resources.

(2) National Rights Museum
http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/default.asp
Allows the student to interact with activities, see photographs of famous people and see exhibits about the Civil Rights movement. This site introduces students to people who have fought and dedicated their lives for freedom.

(3) Factbites/Civil Rights Act 1865
http://www.factbites.com/topics/Civil-Rights-Act-of-1875

(4) The Civil Rights Movement, A Photographic History, 1954-1968 www.abbeville.com/civilrights/index.asp

(5) Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.html

The Skin You Live In ~ Posted by Camille, Diane, Laura, & Marissa

2008-04-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

Summary: The Skin You Live In written by Michael Tyler and illustrated by David Lee Csicsko was the debut publication of the Chicago Children’s Museum 2005 and is an important story for every child to read. Through a lively yet simplistic nursery rhyme style, this text delivers the vital message of social acceptance to its readers. Throughout the text various children with different colored skin talk about all of the wonderful things that they can do in their beautiful skin. In talking about their skin the voices heard in this text utilize simplistic language to tackle some major themes of child development such as self-acceptance, diversity, self-esteem, friendship, and social justice issues. In addition, this text displays children of various skin colors participating in and enjoying the same activities thus demonstrating the idea that even though these children may look different, they are in fact very much the same. Finally, the powerful words in this text talk about what skin is and what it is not therefore conveying the fact that having a certain skin color does not and can not make you “smart” or “dumb,” “tall” or “short,” or “rich” or poor.”

Reflections: The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler is an incredibly energetic story filled with vivid illustrations and relevant issues regarding today’s youth. We all loved reading this book and with the turning of each page we were more and more excited to hear the fun yet informative rhymes that lied ahead. Based on our excitement, we are confident that students will also be engaged and entranced by this powerful text. While this book may seem like a fun and simple read to some, to us, this text is filled with issues of social justice revolving around race, adoption, and being biracial or multiracial. After we read the story aloud we discussed how this text teaches children about all of the different skin tones that there are in a non-threatening way by comparing them to different ice cream flavors and talking about how different people in the same family can have different skin colors as well as how what each child does in their individual skin makes their skin and them significant. In addition, we found that this story taught students different ways in which they could accept and embrace their own skin color and the skin colors of others due to the wonderful things that we, as humans, do in our skin every day.

How I would use this book/curricular units: This text would be wonderful to utilize in the classroom when introducing the students to issues relating to race, the many ways people are alike and different (depending on the grade level), and in working on descriptions of self. While this story does not introduce the term race or racism, it does portray many different people of different races and could easily be the starting point for a discussion of what race is and is not. The students could look at where the people of each race come from geographically and how these locations have effected the color of their skin by talking about the role of melanin in determining skin color. In addition, this text can be used to talk about how people look different from the outside and that even though the most obvious body part, the skin, may be different from person to person that the color of a persons skin does not change what is on the inside and students can study the body to see that humans are all composed of the same organs, muscles, and bones. Finally, this story would be great to read when working on a unit in which students need to describe themselves. After reading this text students will recognize that their skin color is significant and all their own. They can write about the color of their skin, what it makes them think of or how it makes them feel, and create art projects in which they mix paint colors until they have created their own personal skin color and use that color to paint a self-portrait that they can hang in the classroom along with a description of who they are, where they come from, and why they are proud to have the skin that they are in.

Elements of Social Justice Education: 1) Self-love and Acceptance: Students will learn to love themselves for who they are and where they come from. They will see themselves in the text by being able to relate to one of the many children featured throughout the colorful illustrations as well as different activities described in the text that children do in their wonderful skin. In being able to relate to the words and images of the text, reading this story will foster a sense of acceptance not only for the students themselves and where they come from, but of other students and their origins as well. 2) Respect for Others: Students will learn to investigate other people and cultures and appreciate them for what they are by looking at the different skin tones of people from different cultures, talking about where these people are from in the world, and how the places in which they live effect the color of their skin tone. In concordance with this they will obtain a deeper understanding of skin color and respect and accept all people regardless of the color of their skin for who they are and where they come from. 3) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students will discuss and learn more about racism, adoption, and being biracial or multiracial and the effects that these issues have on all people. 4) Social Movements and Social Change: Students can explore the issues presented in the text and discuss how people have worked to change society like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did during the Civil Rights Movement when he worked hard to ban segregation, or separating people because of the color of their skin, in public establishments. In addition, they can connect these worldly issues, social movements, and social change to their own classroom and create ways in which they can combat similar issues that they see occurring in their classroom. 5) Taking Social Action: Students will learn how to take action and create social change on their own by looking at issues in the text, relating those issues to others that they see in the classroom, learning about how issues like these were and still are handled on the public scale, and utilize all that they have learned to synthesize and implement a plan for social change in their own classroom community.

Links:
 http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Skin-You-Live-In/Michael-Tyler/e/9780975958001/?itm=1
 http://www.amazon.com/Skin-You-Live-Michael-Tyler/dp/0975958003/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207692082&sr=1-1
 http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-1/qid=1207692115/ref=sr_1_1/601-8308837-4896141?ie=UTF8&index=target&asin=0975958003&rh=k%3Athe%20skin%20you%20live%20in&page=1
 http://www.shop.com/+-a-the+skin+you+live+in-p61558627-k36-st.shtml
 http://www.hotbooksale.com/store/productView.aspx?idProduct=67303&ec=1&ProdID=78&utm_source=shopping&utm_medium=cpc

Suki's Kimono

2008-04-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

Group: Krista, Maria & Kristen
Book: Suki's Kimono by Chieri Uegaki Illustrated by Stephane Jorisch

Grade: 1-3
Link to book:
http://www.amazon.com/Sukis-Kimono-Chieri-Uegaki/dp/1553377524/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207702658&sr=8-1

Summary:
Suki's Kimono is the story about a little girl who receives a kimono from her grandmother over the summer and attends a special cultural festival. She loves the kimono so much that she decides to wear it on her first day of school. Her sisters try and talk her out of wearing it telling her that she should try to wear something "cooler" and "newer", but Suki is not persuaded. When Suki gets to school she gets laughed at and teased for being different. In class when asked what she did over the summer she retails how her grandmother gave her the kimono and their adventure at the cultural festival, she then begins to dance as if she was at the festival. When she is finished everyone applauds her.

Suki's Kimono is a great book for showing the importance of treasured possessions and how they can be shared effectively with others. Suki loves her kimono and wears it to school with pride. The author, Uegaki, does a fine job of showing Suki's spirit and respect for her grandmother.

Reflection: This is a great book to use in the classroom because it shows the importance of being different. Suki has great spirit in the book, despite the fact that she is getting laughed at she continues to be herself even though its differs from her peers. This is an important concept for children to come to terms with, especially in school in which peer pressure and conformity are major issues.

How the book can be used/curriculum units:

This is a book that can be integrated into a social studies curriculum such as immigration. It is a good book to use in the classroom especially considering the number of students who immigrate from other countries. The book depicts how a person could maintain their culture in society that promotes conformity.
First Activity: Students will work in small groups and can pick a member from the community who has immigrated to the U.S. They will interview them about the struggles they have faced in maintaing their culture and resisting conformity.
Second Activity: Writing Workshop-- Students research and pick a cultural object that means a lot to the. They can write about why it is important and how it relates to their culture.

Domains of Social Justice:

1. Self-love and Respect: The students will discuss how Suki, had a great deal of confidence in being different and representing who she is culturally. Students can identify objects they love that represent their culture.

2. Respect for Others: Students will learn about Suki's culture which will foster respect for Suki's culture. We learn through this book the importance to respect others and their cultures, especially if they are different from our own.

3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice: This book can open up a discussion on assimilation and how when immigrants come to this country they are expected to totally embrace our culture rather then maintaing their own. Students can talk about why its important to maintain your culture. This is an especially pertinent topic considering the different people that compose our NYC classrooms.

4. Social Movements and Social Change: Students will learn about the historical struggles immigrants faced in maintaining their culture, and how this struggle can still be seen today in education (i.e. No Child Left Behind).

5. Taking Social Action: Students can write letters to Suki's sister's explaining why it is important for them to take pride in their culture and the negative effects to a conformed society.

One Hen

2008-04-08T17:07:00.001-07:00

Group: Susanna, Jasmine, and Elyse

One Hen
Written by Katie Smith
Illustrated by Eugene Fernandes

Link to where you can buy the book:

http://www.amazon.com/One-Hen-Small-Loan-Difference/dp/1554530288/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207699187&sr=1-1

Inspired by true events, One Hen tells the story of Kojo, a boy from Ghana who turns a small loan into a thriving farm and a livelihood for many. After his father died, Kojo had to quit school to help his mother collect firewood to sell at the market. When his mother receives a loan from some village families, she gives a little money to her son. With this tiny loan, Kojo buys a hen. A year later, Kojo has built up a flock of 25 hens. With his earnings Kojo is able to return to school. Soon Kojo's farm grows to become the largest in the region. Kojo's story is inspired by the life of Kwabena Darko, who as a boy started a tiny poultry farm just like Kojo's, which later grew to be the largest in east Africa. Kwabena also started a trust that gives out small loans to people who cannot get a loan from a bank.

One Hen shows what happens when a little help makes a big difference. This help comes in the form of a microloan, a lending system for people in developing countries who have no collateral and no access to conventional banking. Microloans have begun to receive more media attention in recent years. In 2006 Muhammad Yunus, a Bangledeshi economist who pioneered microloan banking, won the Nobel Peace Prize.The final pages of One Hen explain the microloan system and include a list of relevant organizations for children to explore.

Reflection: This is a great book to use in the classroom because it shows something that appears to be small can make a big difference, such as the loan to buy one hen. This book depicts the fact that one person can cause a change is he or she works hard enough. If people work together, they can help this individual bring about this change. Rich illustrations accompany the text as the theme of the book shows that change is possible, and it starts with just one person.

How the book can be used/curriculum units:

First Activity: Students will work in groups to research an organization
and write a proposal to the school for why they should support the
organization. They will present he proposal to the school, asking
them to vote on which program they would like to be involved with.
After choosing an organization, the students will create a plan to get
the school and wider community involved in their cause. They will
write letters to small businesses asking for donations, fundraise, and
set up food, clothing or school supply drives depending on their
organization.

Second Activity: Writing Workshop-- Students pick a change they would like to bring about and write about this in their writer's notebooks. They write about the first thing they should do, as the one who starts this change.

Third Activity: Teacher can hand out a "small loan" to all the students. For example, she can hand out a box of markers to each student. In 2 weeks, we can what we did with those markers and if we made any difference with the markers. Discuss the similiarities and differences between what we did and what happened in the story.

Websites: http://www.onehen.org/

Grades 3-5
Domains of Social Justice:
1. Self-love and Respect: The students will discuss how Kojo, a young
boy had a great deal of confidence and determination to help out his
family and village, and make a change in the world. Students of
African background may coke connections to the conditions in the book
and express love and respect for their culture. Students will learn
about their responsibilities in their families and how they are
important to their own families and communities as well.

2. Respect for Others: From learning about a different culture and
comparing and contrasting their responsibilities and structure of the
community, students will respect Kojo's culture and Ashanti region of
Ghana. They will learn about the different circumstances and
hardships of Kojo's community, but also how rich in culture and values
their community is, and how they all took initiative to make a change.

3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students will learn about the
disparity of wealth from one country to another. Many countries in
Africa have had to endure many years of injustice, specifically, the
Ashanti region dominated by the British. Students will discuss the
history of Ghana, focusing in on the country and what hardships they
had to endure over the years, including colonization, political
strife, unfair trading. They will explore how other countries are
affected by modern industrialization and unfair trading.

4. Social Movements and Social Change: Students will learn about how
the people of Ghana took initiative to create an independent
government and make efforts to stabilize the economy. They will
discuss the steps people took to try and establish fair trade and
develop bank and loan systems to help small villages. They will learn
how people and organizations and are working to make larger changes in
political and economic systems.

5. Taking Social Action: They will earn about different organizations
(especially those included in the book) that help create positive
change in Ghana and other countries such as the Philippines, Uganda
and Peru by providing money for loans and outreach organizations to
help build schools and recruit teachers. Students will choose an
organization to become involved with, writing letters to local
businesses to fundraise for a loan, and also set up a relationship
with a school in Ghana to help provide school supplies, clothes and
food.

Iqbal

2008-04-08T17:00:00.002-07:00

Title: Iqbal
Author: Francesco D'Adamo
Grades: 4 and up

Summary: Through the eyes of Iqbal's fictional coworker (Fatima), D'Adamo retells the true story of Iqbal Masih. Iqbal, a 13-year-old boy from Pakistan, is originally sold into servitude. This story takes place in a carpet factory where children work all day in hopes of paying off family debt. When Iqbal arrives, he quickly points out to the others that no matter how much they work, their debt will never be paid off. Iqbal is determined to raise the spirit of the children by teaching them to believe eventually they will be free. One day Iqbal escapes and makes contact with the Bonded Labor Liberation Front. With the help of the BLLF and together with his coworkers, Iqbal exposes the corruption within the country and works to free other children sold into servitude.

Reflections: After reading this book, all three of us were brought to tears. This story of a young boy inspiring other children and people around the world to fight against the injustices and harm being brought upon the working children of Pakistan is quite powerful. Though told from the perspective of a fictional character, Iqbal was a real boy which makes his story all the more inspirational. We felt truly affected and changed by learning about Iqbal's story. We feel that illuminating others to issues around child labor as well as reading a story with Middle Eastern characters (which are not often found in classroom literature) would be a valuable as well as effective piece of classroom literature.

How to use this book in the curriculum:
- works well as a Read Aloud
- could be used as a novel for a unit on child labor, children's/human rights, capitalism, and/or fair trade
- looking at modern day heroes and/or children who are heroes
- historical fiction unit
- great book for a classroom library
- literature circles
- writing letters, persuasive/informative essays, etc.

Domains of Social Justice:
Self-love and Acceptance: Children begin this story being treated like dirt. By the end, these same children learn that they are valuable and begin using their voices to express that to all enslaved children.
Respect for Others: This story glimpses into the lives of enslaved children from Pakistan. By reading "Iqbal" students will have a better understanding of what an enslaved child laborer must go through on an everyday basis.
Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Classism and ageism are definitely confronted in "Iqbal." Poor children are forced into a life of enslavement, treated like animals, and manipulated for their illiteracy. They are oppressed for the benefit of their oppressor. This is one boy's story of how he stood up for himself and all of the other children.
Social Movements and Social Change: Iqbal is based on a true story. Iqbal was a child who wanted to change his situation and make it better for everyone. He aligned himself with an organization that uncovered hidden child labor camps. He was very brave.

Websites:
to purchase "Iqbal": http://www.amazon.com/Iqbal-Novel-Francesco-DAdamo/dp/0689854455

website made by middle school class about Iqbal:
http://www.mirrorimage.com/iqbal/

Blogged by:
Cassandra Lyhus, Alissa Levy, Celeste Mason

The Name Jar

2008-04-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

Group: Jocelyn Chung, Emma Klauber, Jina Kim

Title: "The Name Jar"

Author: Yangsook Choi

Summary: This book is about a young girl that leaves her home in Korea. As she leaves her grandmother, her grandmother gives her a name stamp with her name in Korean. She comes to America and her first interaction with other children isn't a good one. All of the students have trouble saying her name and start making fun of her name. She decides that she wants to give herself an american name. On her first day of school she tells the class that she hasn't picked a name yet so the class starts a name jar. The jar is filled with names that the other children in the class have suggested. She reads many of the names but hasn't picked one yet. During this time, she meets a friend that takes much interest in her name. This friend and the girl meet at a Korean supermarket and the owner of the market says her name, Unhei. The boy finds out her name and wants her to keep her name. The next day of school he takes the name jar and no one can find it. When she goes home this friend comes to Unhei's house and gives her the name jar and tells her that she should keep her name and also shows her something really special, his very own name stamp.

Reflection: I really enjoyed this book, especially because it was about a little Korean girl. I could relate to the little girl in many ways. I believe that this shows other students the perspective of this little Korean girl. It will help other students understand how Unhei felt and could even teach other students what acceptance is of others and themselves.

How would I use this book in the classroom: There are so many ways that this book could be used in the classroom. This could be used to teach students tolerance and acceptance of others. The teacher could read aloud this book and then she could have the students make their own name stamps and do research about what their name means. Students could write their name in their language as well. Doing these different things will help the students learn about their peers and be tolerant of them. This would be a good way to build community in the classroom.

Domains of Social Justice:

1. Self-love and acceptance: This book talks all about self-love and acceptance. Unhei had to except her korean name and her identity. Hopefully this will help other students to do the same and accept themselves for who they are.

2. Respect for Others: This book will teach the students about other cultures. Some of the students in the book are also good examples of how they were accepting of Unhei and how they showed respect to her. This could be a topic that could be discussed with your students.

3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice: After reading this book, the students can move on and talk about different social issues going on in the world that deal with tolerance of other cultures and acceptance and respect of different people. The students can do research about different things going on in the world and discuss what things that they could do.

4. Social Movements and Social Change: The students can start taking action by being tolerant of other students and making a difference through their actions. They can tell other people about what they learned and if they see intolerance happening in their schools they could try to do something about it.

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt

2008-03-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

Link to where you can buy this book: http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Clara-Freedom-Reading-Rainbow/dp/0679874720
Summary: This is a story about an African American girl's escape from slavery on a Southern plantation. When the rigors of cotton-field labor overwhelm Clara, a kindly woman she calls Aunt Rachel trains the girl to be a seamstress in the main house. Like most slaves, Clara longs for freedom and yearns to be reunited with her mother. Becoming proficient in her sewing, she begins in her off hours to put together a map-quilt, stitching in any information she can get from overheard conversations about an escape route to Canada.   Reflection: I think that this book is very sweet, with well developed characters and a victorious story-line but I don't think that it correctly portrays the life of a slave. All of the pictures are painted with very bright colors and it makes it seem like it was easy for slaves to escape from the south. I think that this is an appropriate book for younger students learning about slavery because it doesn't include many gruesome details and it allows you to sympathize with the characters a lot.
 Book Use/Activities/Curricular Units: To help your students sympathize with the characters, you could present a concept/imagine lesson.. Each concept is paired with an imagination activity for students so the teacher reads the concept aloud to students and then offers a brief period for questions. Next, read the imagining exercise and last, allow students to share imaginings and realizations with the class.
For example: Concept: Clara is separated from her mother before her twelfth birthday. During the times of slavery, it was quite common for the children of slaves to be taken away from their parents. Many slave children were taken away while still an infant. (This practice of separation was used to alienate slaves, deprive them of an emotional support system, and make them feel less human.) Imagine: that when you get home from school one day, someone takes you away to a place far away from your family and tells you that you must stay at the faraway place forever. Imagine what it might feel like thinking that you will never see your family again. [Pause while students imagine. The thoughts you have may be very similar to the thoughts of Clara and many slave children of the past.]  
Websites:
http://www.africanaheritage.com/sweetclara.asp
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/socialstd/grade5/Sweet_Clara.html
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/sweet/sweettg.html
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=127
Domains of Social Justice: This book offers a perfect opportunity for teachers to discuss AAVE (African American Vernacular English) with their older students. AAVE is also popularly known as Ebonics. AAVE is a distinct language variety with specific rules regarding grammar and word pronunciation. Because all of your students are either speakers of AAVE or come in contact with speakers of AAVE, it is important to affirm the idea that AAVE is not a sub-standard variation of English. Rather, AAVE is a linguistic variation that developed in specific socio-cultural conditions and is not related to one’s academic abilities. Many children that learn AAVE in their home learn Standard English as a second language once they begin school. For further reading before lecturing on this concept, you may wish to read the following web page that includes a description of the opposing opinions regarding AAVE:http://www.une.edu.au/langnet/aave.htm

The Great Kapok Tree

2008-03-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

Title and Author: The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry

Link to where you can buy this book: http://www.amazon.com/Great-Kapok-Tree-Amazon-Forest/dp/0152026142/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206845386&sr=1-1

Summary: The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry is a story about a man who falls asleep in the Amazon Rain Forest after trying in vain to chop down a great big Kapok tree before succumbing to fatigue and the rain forest's hot climate. While asleep, the man is visited by many of the different animals in the rain forest that rely on the tree for either food or shelter. The animals implore the man not to cut down the tree and inform him of just how important it is to everyone's, including his own, survival.

Reflection: I really liked this book. I thought it was very informative about many issues that people tend to overlook. The impact that humans can have on the rest of the world is a very important concept that children should be taught about early on. This book is a nonthreatening way to introduce the destruction and exploitation of many of the world's natural resources and the sooner children learn about it, the earlier they can start taking measures to stop it. The illustrations are beautiful and do an excellent job of capturing the beauty of the rain forest.

Book Use/Activities/Curricular Units: This book could be used for several different units. It could be used for learning about the various rain forests, habitats, ecosystems, exploitation of natural resources, etc. This book could jumpstart a discussion about what people can do to save the rain forests or other ecosystems that may be in danger of being completely destroyed. It can jumpstart a research project where students research and investigate just how living things in different ecosystems are being affected by forces of consumption and production. Students could then write their own stories or plays about other creatures telling their story and seeking to save their own. They could role play or act out their own stories in front of other classes. Afterwards, they could write letters to the companies that are causing the destruction of these ecosystems telling them of the negative impact they are having and start petitions stating that they will no longer use their products.

Websites:

http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/kapok/kapoktg.htm

http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pages/337.shtml

http://www.education-world.com/a_tsl/archives/03-1/lesson015.shtml

Domains of Social Justice:

Respect for Others & Social Movements and Social Change: This book has underlying themes of respect for all living things, not just people. It highlights just how interconnected we all are and how the actions that we might take for granted, can cause someone or something else to lose everything. It stressed the pitfalls of ignorance and encourages being informed and finding out what you can do to protect the rain forest and by extension, the earth.

El Chino By: Allen Say

2008-03-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

Summary: This is a true story of an Arizona-born Billy Wong who was the first-ever Chinese bullfighter. As Billy grows up, his father tells him, over and over again, "In America you can be anything you want to be.'' Billy retains his fathers advice as he visits Spain and faces one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after another on his triumphant way to the bull fighting ring. While striving to become a bull fighter he is held back by his appearance when he is often informed that "Only the Spaniards can become true matadors." So he stayed in Spain and went to bullfighting school, but after two years passed without fighting a single cow, Billy realized that a Chinese matador might stand out in the crowd of aspiring bullfighters--as indeed he did. After his first success as El Chino --The Chinese--in his native costume, Billy received an offer to become a real matador. Say's text renders Billy's complex story with simplicity and grace, and provides inspiration in presenting Billy as an endearing, determined hero.

Reflections: This story was great because it gave perspective into the life experiences of a first generation Chinese immigrant. The idea taught to Billy by his father of having the ability to be anything you want to be in America, is a similar idea that immigrants from many diverse share. The main character, Billy, was at first held back from his goal of becoming a matador because the Spaniards doubted his abilities based upon his appearance. However, this book teaches the reader that by persevering and embracing your true heritage will help you in accomplishing what you want to be.

How this book can be used: The author Allen Say has written several books that all revolve around the same theme of Asian immigration to America. His various books provide multiple perspectives on the process and experience of immigrants. Since there is a similar theme throughout his stories, this book would be good for an author study. This story can also benefit a unit on immigration because it depicts the effects of immigration on people throughout their lives and into adulthood. I would also use this book to focus on the lesson of the story which is to strive for anything you want while still embracing your cultural backgrounds. The main character was only acknowledged after he showed his true identity which made him stand out among the rest of the people. This book can encourage students to take pride and share the traditions of their culture because it is that part of their identity that makes them a unique individual.

Domains of Social Justice: 1) First generation Chinese immigrants may relate to similar struggles that faced the main character. Chinese students may learn about traditional clothing of the Chinese culture. 2) Students learn about one immigrants experience and can relate that to their own immigration experiences or those of their relatives. Students might relate to similar harships that they or their family have experiences when immigrating. 3) Students explore issues of streotyping and prejudices and how these issues held back the main character from achieving his goal. 4) Students learn from the obstacles and struggles this main character faced. Students discover ways to change negative perceptions other people make by maintaining determination and embracing ones own cultural heritage.

Hey, Little Ant- Mark Coccarelli

2008-03-24T17:56:00.001-07:00

Hey, Little Ant

Hey, Little Ant
By Hannah and Hoose

Link to where you can purchase book:http://shop.scholastic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=18839&langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10004

Summary: PreSchool-Grade 2-Based on a song, this occasionally stilted narrative has a message: respect all creatures and their right to live. A bespectacled ant, loaded down with two shopping bags, is confronted by a human youngster intent on stepping on him. Before the boy can carry out his threat, the ant begs him to reconsider. Each double-page spread is devoted to one character expressing his opinion in the life vs. death debate. The brightly colored, full-page cartoon illustrations, rendered in pen, ink, and watercolor, capably convey the obvious differences and the surprising similarities of the two main characters. The boy is urged to look at things from the ant's point of view before deciding on his course of action. The tale's conclusion is open-ended as readers are asked, "What do you think that kid should do?" The accompanying picture shows a huge sneaker posed above the tiny ant. The music and verses appear on the last page of this tepid tale that could lead to discussions concerning bullies and/or the protection of other species.

Reflection: This is a really good story that shows how to look at things from a different perspective. It shows how a giant person and little ant have more in common then from looks on the outside. The book is also open ended and it allows the children reading the book to take part in the story and decide based off what they have learned in the story weather of not the boy should crush the ant

Websites:

http://www.heylittleant.com/educators.html

Domain of Social Justice Education:2.) Respect for Others- Strengthens intercultural competence. The boy looks at life from a different perspective. Sees that the ant’s life is very similar to his own.
3.) Exploring Issues of Social Justice- Racism, Classism, Sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression are confronted. The boy looks at things from a different perspective. He used to make judgments based off appearance. He thought because the ant was tiny and small he wasn’t like the boy at all.

It's Okay to Be Different

2008-03-13T17:01:00.001-07:00

Summary: It’s Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr is a fun-loving story about the many differences that exist between all people and a unique way in which we can embrace and celebrate those differences. Even though this text may appear to be silly and simple, it’s bright, bold colors and powerful words carry a strong message. The appearance of this text draws students in and the messages of understanding, acceptance, and confidence in oneself keeps them entranced from beginning to end. Combating issues of racism, ableism, perceptions of beauty, immigration, homophobia, adoption, and more this is an important text for all children to be exposed to.

Reflections: It’s Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr is a wonderful story filled with eye-catching illustrations and meaningful narration. I really enjoyed reading this book and each time I read it to children I saw just how much they enjoyed it too! Although this book looks very simple at first glance, it displays issues in today’s world that are relevant to students and need to be discussed. As I read the book for the first time I felt that the way in which Todd Parr discussed heavy issues such as racism, ableism, perceptions of beauty, immigration, homophobia, adoption, etc. was brilliant and appropriate for young readers. Written in a simple and repetitive manner, this book states many ways in which all people are different and repeatedly asserts that these differences are “okay.” Even though there is no mention of the terms racism, ableism, perceptions of beauty, immigration, homophobia, adoption, etc. the issues are there and it is up to the person reading the book how much depth and detail they will discuss based on issues that the book presents. Finally, I think it is great that this book discusses more than one issue because the fact is that there are many issues of social justice and children need to learn about all of them not just racism.

How I would use this book/curricular units: This text would be great to use when introducing students to the terms of racism, ableism, perceptions of beauty, immigration, homophobia, adoption, etc. In addition to introducing these terms, this book could be used to discuss what each terms definition is, what they mean to the students, and how Todd Parr portrays their meaning in his book. In concordance with this, students can discuss whether or not racism, ableism, perceptions of beauty, immigration, homophobia, adoption, etc. exist in their lives and the role that they play in their lives. The teacher can ask students to not only share the factual information regarding their experiences but how those experiences made them feel and what they would have done to change the situation if they could. The teacher can also have the students create a role-play that they will perform in front of the class in which they act out a scenario demonstrating the meaning of one of these terms and the effects that these terms have on others. Then, the students can talk about what should have been done differently and recreate the scene showing how people can combat racism, ableism, perceptions of beauty, immigration, homophobia, adoption, etc. through their words and actions.

Elements of Social Justice Education: 1) Self-love and Acceptance: Students will learn to love themselves for who they are and where they come from. They will see themselves in the text by being able to relate to one of the many descriptions given and recognize that just as Todd Parr writes about these differences he also writes about the fact that it is okay that these differences exist thus fostering a sense of acceptance for others as well as ourselves and where we come from. 2) Respect for Others: Students will learn to investigate other people and cultures and appreciate them for what they are by looking at not hiding from what makes people and cultures different, talking about those differences, and accepting and respecting others for who they are and where they come from. 3) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students will discuss and learn more about racism, ableism, perceptions of beauty, immigration, homophobia, adoption, etc. and the effects that these issues have on all people. 4) Social Movements and Social Change: Students can explore the issues presented in the text and discuss how people have worked to change society using Todd Parr as an example for writing this book. In addition, they can connect social movements and social change from the outside world to their classroom and discover ways in which they could combat issues similar to those in the text. 5) Taking Social Change: Students will learn how to take action and create social change on their own by looking first at their own classroom and the existence of issues like bullying and its underlying themes to take action against issues such as ableism, racism, classism, perceptions of beauty, etc.

Links:
 http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Its-Okay-to-Be-Different/Todd-Parr/e/9780316666039/?itm=1
 http://www.amazon.com/Its-Okay-Different-Todd-Parr/dp/0316155624/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205271920&sr=1-1
 http://www.smarter.com/childrens-people-place-books/its-okay-to-be-different/pd--ch-1--pi-899810.html
 http://www.target.com/dp/0316155624/sr=1-1/qid=1205272199/ref=sr_1_1/601-4792414-1228933?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3A%20It%27s%20Okay%20to%20Be%20Different%20&page=1

Muhammad Ali Champion of the World

2008-03-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Book Club 2: Muhammad Ali Champion of the World
by Jonah Winter and Francois Roca

Review by Akiko Nagamine

Summary:
Muhammad Ali Champion of the World is a picture book about Ali’s professional boxing career. It is written with a poetic feel, possibly alluding to Ali’s style of speech. It quotes some of Ali’s famous sayings, and uses a unique font to convey a strong message about determination and believing in yourself. The book highlights moments of Muhammad Ali’s professional career, from when he changes his name to when he refuses to fight in the Vietnam War. The book ends with the infamous “Rumble in the Jungle” where Ali defeats George Foreman in Africa.

Reflections:
I chose this book because I wanted to expose my students to a famous African-American who is overlooked in the social studies curriculum. I thought that my students would be interested in hearing Ali’s story because he is a famous person who is not discussed in schools; he is an icon of determination and strength, and some of my students were familiar with his name.

When reading this book to my students, they were extremely sensitive to the racism that was apparent during Ali’s time. Students exclaimed, “That’s racist!” and it evoked some powerful emotions.

How I used the book / Curriculum Units:
I used this book initially as a read aloud to introduce some new vocabulary words to the students. However, since the book conveys such a powerful message, I also used it for accountable talk asking students to critically discuss the major issues in the book. Students were prompted with different note cards that said things like “Muhammad Ali is (or is not) a leader because…” and “Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali because ______________. I think that…”

This book can be used to introduce a unit on positive role models and what it means to be a role model in a community. In addition, this book may follow a slavery unit where it can be used to talk about the impact of slavery on future generations of the African-American community. Slavery affected Muhammad Ali, and students can refer to his experience to explore how slavery in this country’s past affects us today.

Portions of this text can be used in a poetry unit, especially because Muhammad Ali was famous for quoting poems to predict the outcome of his fights. He coined some famous quotes that are still used to today, such as “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”.

Domains of Social Justice:
1. Self Love and Acceptance – Students will learn that strong faith in themselves will help them accomplish great things. Muhammad Ali continuously believed in himself through the hardest times and was able to become the champion of the world. Students may discuss what a role model is and what it means to be a role model in today’s society.
Students may also engage in a study of Africa, exploring Ali’s strong sense of African pride and connecting that to a study of students’ ancestors.

3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice – Students will discuss aspects of racism Ali faced during his professional career. It will help put into perspective the effects of slavery on people of more recent generations.

4. Social Movements and Social Change - Students will explore Muhammad Ali not only as a boxer but an international humanitarian. He has been an advocate for the world’s hungry, and helped those in need in his home country as well. Students will continue to explore what it means to be a role model, and how they can be an advocate for change as well.

5. Taking Social Action – Continuing in Ali’s footsteps, students will choose a cause that they strongly believe in, or contribute to an organization that Ali is an advocate for. They can do something simple such as volunteering in a soup-kitchen, or contributing to the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Research Center or the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act.

2008-03-09T19:22:00.002-07:00

Mary Braddock

Book Group # 2

Title of the Book: Private and Confidential A Story About Braille

Author: Marion Ripley

Illustrator: Colin Backhouse

Summary: Private and Confidential is a story about a young girl who longs to have a pen pal. When she finally gets one she discovers that her pen pal is visually impaired and that his sister has been reading him all the letters she writes him. The young girl initially becomes very upset about this but she then decides to learn how to write and read Braille so that her and her pen pals can keep their letters private and confidential between the two of them.

Reflections: This is a very simple story, but has an extremely powerful underlying message. The simplicity of the story is engaging though for young students and it’s not just a sappy story about someone who is visually impaired. It can bring up many discussions about a number of different issues, but it especially touches on the topic of how to treat others whom have handicaps or disabilities.

How would I use the book/curriculum units: I recently used this story as a Read Aloud in my student teaching placement in a second grade general education class. I chose it as a read aloud because it was an engaging story and it is a great way to introduce children to the subject if visual impairment. My students loved it. They were extremely attentive and engaged throughout the whole story. Wow! They were also so taken back by the idea of writing and reading in Braille that they asked if I could teach them how to read/write in Braille. Granted this is something I do not know how to do but the back of the book contains some basic to learning how to read Braille so along with my students we learned how to do some reading and writing in Braille. We also then read a book on Louis Braille the inventor of Braille which then led into a geography lesson on France.

After reading the story one of my students mentioned that their grandmother was visually impaired. Another one of my students mentioned that his grandmother was losing her vision and that she often read books on tape so he thought it would be a good idea if some how we could put our published pieces on tape and then send it to her nursing home. I was really impressed with the students’ initiative to think of ways to be more considerate of people having the same opportunities as them. The students discussed how they thought we should do something to ensure that all people are able to read out stories.

Domains of Social Justice: 1) Domains of self-love and acceptance: Students learn to love themselves for who they are. In this case Malcolm who is visually impaired teaches his pen pal that although he has a visually impairment he is still a kid like everyone else and believes he deserve to have the same opportunities to do things like having pen pals like every other kid. He teaches Laura about the cool things he knows like Braille.

2) Respect for Others: In the story the other character Laura learns to appreciate Malcom for Malcom as a person not just by his visual impairment. Students will understand that people are defined by who they are not their disability. Students will learn ways to more considerate of others needs in our everyday world.

3) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students can think about how they can make small changes in their everyday world to accommodate those with special needs or disabilities. Students can observe how places that should be public are not accommodating to all people

4) Social Movements and Social Change: Students can make changes in places that are not accommodating to all people or even make changes in their own classroom, school, or community.

2008-03-09T19:22:00.001-07:00

2008-03-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

Summary: Laura Iwasaki and her family are paying what may be their last visit to Laura's grandfather's grave. The grave is at Manzanar, where thousands of Americans of Japanese heritage were interned during World War II. Among those rounded up and taken to the internment camp were Laura's father, then a small boy, and his parents. Now Laura says goodbye to Grandfather in her own special way, with a gesture that crosses generational lines and bears witness to the patriotism that survived a shameful episode in America's history. Eve Bunting's poignant text and Chris K. Soentpiet's detailed, evocative paintings make the story of this family's visit to Manzanar, and of the memories stirred by the experience, one that will linger in readers' minds and hearts.

Reflections: While reading So Far From the Sea, I felt as though I was apart of the Iwasaki family and experiencing the journey of visiting the Manzanar War Relocation Center. I am saddened at the thought that many students go through school without learning that the United States set Japanese internment camps and not knowing the struggles this group faced as a result of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The vivid watercolors and black and white photographs provide the reader to take a closer look at the scenes of the past and recall them with an extraordinary gaze. This is a great book that exposes students to what life was like of those interned, which were also American citizens, and were deprived of their freedom.

How I would use the book/curriculum units: This book can be used to introduce students to Japanese-Americans, the internment camps, World War II, refugees, discrimination, multigenerational families, parents who have jobs and homes that were taken them away from them, parents who serve in the military. This book can be tied with those such as Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuiki, The Bracelet by Yoshiko Uchida, Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say, and I Am An American by Jerry Stanley. In Social Studies, the teacher could locate Japan on the map and have a class discussion about the internment camps and studying Japanese American, Pearl Harbor, and WWII. The teacher can bring in a suitcase for display (the more older it looks the better) and have each student list what he/she would pack if he/she had to leave home suddenly -- remember they will have to carry only one suitcase and post this display on a bulletin board. Students may want to discuss or write about the significance of the Cub Scout neckerchief in the story during writing workshop.

Domains of Social Justice:
1. Self-love and acceptance- The teacher can invite a Japanese-American or a WWII veteran to talk with the class and share his or her story. The teacher can ask students if they know anyone who was interned in the camps and have them write a reflection on how this changed
2. Respect for Others-The book could serve as an introduction to Japanese culture by discovering the cultural importance of the objects left on graves--rice cakes, origami birds, cherry branches and so forth.
3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice- Students can learn about issues of racism, segregation, relocation, and freedom that Japanese were faced with.
4. Social Movements and Social Change-Students can use the web sites below to research historical background and pictures of the Japanese relocation camps. Students can build a memorial in their community for all the minority groups who died in the internment camps and will not be forgotten.
www.pbs.org/childofcamp/; members.aol.com/EARTHSUN/Manzanar.html
5. Taking Social Action-While Japanese-Americans comprised the overwhelming majority of those in the camps, thousands of Americans of German, Italian, and other European descent were also forced to relocate there. Many more were classified as "enemy aliens" and subject to increased restrictions. As of 2004, the U.S. Government has made no formal apology or reparations to those affected. The following organizations aim to exchange information on Japanese culture, community, history, social services, and public policy issues.
Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Japanese American National Museum, Little Tokyo Service Center, Rafu Shimpo, Japanese American Network.

Internet Sites:
1. http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/photo/9066/9066.htm (Shows photographs of what education, living, labor, and buildings were like during this time period)

2. http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/japan_internment_camps.htm (Provides books, DVD’s, posters on WWII Japanese Internment camps and activities teachers can use)

3. http://www.densho.org/learning/default.asp (Provides free multidisciplinary curriculum unit lessons that introduce students to questions of civil liberties in relation to the life experiences of Japanese Americans.)

4. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8420/main.html (Lists many unread web documents that many US history texts fail to mention, a timeline of events, and photographs)

5. http://www.amazon.com/So-Far-Sea-Eve-Bunting/dp/0395720958 (Site where one can purchase the book)

Scribbleville

2008-03-09T12:25:00.000-07:00

Scribblevile

By Peter Halowitz

Link to where you can purchase book: http://www.amazon.com/Scribbleville-Peter-Holwitz/dp/0399243038/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205088997&sr=8-1

Summary: Scribbleville is a book about a town of people and things that are made up of wavy and curly lines – scribbles. One day a new comer comes to town that looks very different from everything in town. The man was not made of squiggles and waves, he was made all of straight lines, and so was his house and so was his yard and clothes. Everyone in town thinks the man is strange and wonders why he is there in the first place. And when one of their own scribbled villagers begins chatting and befriending the stick man, an interesting change in town begins to take place.

Reflection: Scribbleville is a great story with simple but captivating illustrations and lyrical narration. The book emphasizes the importance of acknowledging the differences between others and recognizing how these differences could be celebrated. The book offers various views of how others may see each others differences or how one may or may not respond to being viewed as different. Scribbleville carries a positive theme about the friendship and love that can be created between others no matter how different they are. Book Use/Activities/Curricular Units: This book lends itself easily to discussions in topics of individuality, the changes people can make and the acceptance of others. The book provides ideas as to how people affect one another and how the differences that are or are not noticeable can make a positive impact on others. Students can relate to the text in describing ways in which they are different from everyone and how their differences can help others.

Domain of Social Justice Education:

1) Self-Love and Acceptance: When the stickman comes to Scribbleville and is stared at and judged by the people of the town he does not let their judgments get to him and focuses on his happy life.
2.) Respect for Others- Strengthens intercultural competence. Though the Stickman is being judged by others he does not do the same to them.
3.) Exploring Issues of Social Justice- Racism, Classism, Sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression are confronted. The scribbled Woman befriends the stickman.4.) Social Movements and Social Change- Students learn how people have struggled for social change. The scribbled woman befriends the stickman and the scribbled boy in the story takes notice and draws a picture using both straight and squiggled lines. The stickman and scribbled woman begin using straight or squiggled lines in their wardrobe and everyday life together.
5.) Taking Social Action- Students explore their own context and develop tools to work for change. The scribbled boy shares his drawing and people in Scribbleville begin using wearing straight lines in their clothing and to decorate.

Mrs. Katz and Tush

2008-03-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

Author: Patricia Polacco

Overview:

Mrs. Katz is Larnel’s neighbor whom he doesn’t know very well, but is very good friends with his mother. All that changes however when Larnel learns Mrs. Katz’s husband passed away recently. He decides to go over by himself one day, and asks Mrs. Katz to adopt an abandoned kitten. Mrs. Katz agrees under one condition: Larnel must help her take care of the kitten. Larnel agrees and as he begins to spend more time with Mrs. Katz and the kitten whom she names Tush, Larnel learns a lot from Mrs. Katz. Mrs. Katz tells him stories about all the good times she spent with her husband and about coming to America from Poland. As Larnel grows to love Mrs. Katz, he also learns about the difficulties of Mrs. Katz past, and begins to understand the troubles and triumph black history shares with the Jewish heritage.

Reflection:

I thought this book was wonderfully written, and exposed the reader to a variety of important concepts that were weaved into the story beautifully. Mrs. Katz and Tush touches upon the relationships that are established between generations, and the importance of learning from one another and building on that. Mrs. Katz is significantly older than Larnel, and throughout the book as she shares the different types of traditions with Larnel, Larnel makes it a point to not just understand but to become a part of those traditions. Not only does this exhibit acceptance of different cultures, but it displays the respect the two have for each other. Just because Mrs. Katz was older, Larnel did not judge her or make assumptions off of that. He was open-minded and displayed a willingness to learn. The importance of tradition was also exposed throughout the book. Mrs. Katz and Larnel together go to the cemetery to place small rocks on the top of Mr. Katz’s headstone, and Larnel asks if he could spend Passover with Mrs. Katz. I believe these parts, along with other sections of the book relay that importance of carrying on traditions that are passed down from generation to generation, whether it be religious, cultural, etc. On a much larger picture, this book also touches upon difficulties two different cultures experienced in history. The point I believe that was trying to get across was, even though Mrs. Katz and Larnel came from two different backgrounds, the suffering and challenges that their people faced were similar. In addition to understanding that both cultures were faced with similar and different situations, that were harsh and unfair, the one important commonality between both groups was the feeling of pain and unfair treatment.

I also felt the pictures in Mrs. Katz and Tush expressed a lot of emotion to the reader. Each page represented emotions so powerfully, that when reading the text and looking at the pictures on the same page, I began to sympathize with the characters.

How would I use the book towards curricular units:

A whole unit can be done on hardships different cultures have faced, and students can identify that people of different cultures have been treated poorly and put in unfair situations but they’ve all experienced the same feeling of pain and suffering.
Students can learn about the importance of their traditions and values, along with the respect and acceptance of other traditions.

Domains of Social Justice:

1) Domains of self-love and acceptance: Students identify their own traditions and learn to appreciate and accept the values and traditions exhibited in their families, culture, etc.

2) Respect for others: Students learn to appreciate the traditions and cultures of others.

3) Exploring issues of social justice: Students research and learn about different time periods where cultures were faced with oppression. More importantly, students explore and understand that suffering still occurs today, throughout the world.

4) Social movements and social change: Change the rules around in the classroom and ask students if they wanted the rules to go back to the original way, what actions could they take. Identify how different groups in the past responded to injustice.

5) Taking Social Action: Students explore an issue of injustice- look up an organization that speaks out for social change and identify ways they can become a part of it.

Kids' Multicultural Cookbook

2008-03-09T11:19:00.000-07:00

Title: The Kids' Multicultural Cookbook: Food and Fun Around the World
Author: Deanna F. Cook

Summary: This book emphasizes that cooking is a fun way for kids to learn about cultures around the world. Just by looking at the ingredients kids will get a sense of what foods are available in other countries. Also, in more careful reading of the recipes, kids will discover how foods are prepared differently in other countries. Each recipes includes fun facts and figures about the country of origin. It often highlights the ways that kids help their families prepare food and participate in their countries' traditions. By the end of the book students have traveled to 41 countries thinking they have only used their taste buds, but really it involved so much more.

Reflection: I chose this book because of its initial colorful, fun appeal. It is very kid-friendly and engaging. It breaks down recipes into easy steps and offers reason why a culture may eat this food. It attributes unique and interesting facts and foods to each country to make exciting reading. I also liked how children from each country are highlighted among the recipes so students can see children like themselves also participating in cooking.

How I could use this book: This book is excellent in units of study about food, restaurants or various topics about other countries. My 1st grade class is currently using this book in their restaurant theme study. They will talk about restaurants, foods and customs first in their own families and the local area and then branch out internationally. This would be a great resource of student's to take home and try or choose a recipe to cook as a class. It would be fun to have an international tasting day where students could bring a dish to share from their family's country of origin. Yoko is another book that could be used with this book in order to expose children to new foods and cultures.

Domains of Social Justice: This book definitely hits the first tow levels of social justice, Self-love and Acceptance and Respect for Others. I think its so important that children are exposed to new cultures and foods as early as possible so they can continue to grow and learn with an open mind. I think that I wasted so much time as a child eating chicken nuggets and I'd want my students to experience what else is out there way early than I was. They will also develop a new respect of their family's traditions and have pride in themselves.

The Name Jar

2008-03-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

Title: The Name Jar

Author: Yangsook Choi

Summary: In this book a young girl, Unhei, comes to America with her family and must leave behind her life and grandmother in Korea. One thing that she brings with her is a wooden stamp with Korean characters on it that spell out her name, Unhei. This is something that Unhei cherishes because it reminds her of her grandmother and Korea.

When she arrives in America she begins school right away. When she tells children on the bus her name they can not pronounce it, make fun of it, and wonder why it is so different. Due to this experience Unhei tells her class that she does not have a name and needs to pick one out. From there her classmates decide to create a name jar which she can use as help in picking out a name. They decide they will all write names on pieces of paper and Unhei can choose the one she likes best as her new name. During this time she meets a young boy who befriends her and learns her Korean name.

The following day the name jar goes missing and after searching for it Unhei tells her classmates she is ready to introduce herself. She explains to the class that her name is Unhei and also helps her classmates pronounce her name correctly. After this the young boy admits that he stole the name jar so that Unhei would pick her Korean name over the other names. The boy shows her that he has a character stamp too. This stamp says friend. His acts and hers lead to her class learning how to accept others and take part in social justice.

Reflections: I liked this book because it is very versatile and could be used within many grades. It is simple enough to be read to first graders but could also be used in older grades. It is a short book but it presents an important lesson which is that acceptance is something that you have to have for your self and others. It could be used for a read aloud and then be branched off into conversations of different levels of intensity regarding the age of students. Regardless of the conversation and the material that is included along with the story, the book will create a powerful reaction on the part of students as they learn about Unhei’s journey to accept herself and have others accept her as well.

How would I use the book/curricular units: As mentioned above, this book could be used for students as young as first graders and span in use to third and fourth grade classrooms. I would use it in the beginning of the school year during the first week of class. It could be read aloud to students and then lead into a conversation about acceptance. Students could talk about how they would define acceptance and how it is shown in the book. The book could also be used in literacy lessons in which students can write about their names and what they think someone would have to do to show acceptance towards it. The students could read these responses and create a list of acts that show acceptance from all their ideas. The teacher can chart these ideas and then post them in the class as goals that all students should follow. The book could also be used in a cause and effect lesson. After reading the book, students could point out causes in the book and then figure out the effects. When this is complete then other events could be used as examples and students could continue work on cause and effects.

Domains of Social Justice:

1. Domain of self love and acceptance:

Students will lean about how Unhei comes to find acceptance of herself and her name. They will get to go on her journey and see the importance of loving oneself and appreciating others. Even though Unhei had to leave Korea and go to a school where people were not the same as her, she found out that it is important to be proud of who she is. This will enable students to see how important it is for them to appreciate and care about who they are.

2. Respect for Others:

In this book students get to see examples of how people do respect others and ways that they do not. During Unhei’s first bus ride to her new school, her peers show examples of how people do not respect others. However, later the students are introduced to the young boy who gets to know Unhei. He wants to know about her Korean name and all about her culture. His acceptance of who she is and her culture spreads through out the classroom when she tells her classmates her Korean name.

3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice:

In this book students are introduced to the harm that comes from not accepting others and how it is an issue of social justice. Our name is a part of our culture, and our cultures should be accepted by all. If this is not the case people are often left feeling bad about themselves and do things such as denying their name such as Unhei did.

4. Social Movements and Social Change:

While reading this book, students learn about how to appreciate others and how to create this acceptance in others. They learn about how the young boy accepts and appreciates Unhei and her culture and then see how he helps others do this as well. By taking away the name jar, the young boy pushes for social movement by helping Unhei introduce herself and educate her classmates about who she was and about her culture. Students are able to see the positive results of this and also see how they can do this their selves.

Mrs. Katz and Tush- Patricia Polacco

2008-03-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

Moonstick

2008-03-05T17:40:00.000-08:00

Moonstick: The Seasons of the Sioux
Author: Eve Bunting
Illustrator: John Sandford
Grades: K-5

Summary:
This book describes how the Sioux Indians used a Moonstick as a type of calendar, marking a notch on a stick for each of the 13 moons of the Sioux year. Each moon marks an important change in nature, such as the time when buffalo give birth to calves, which usually indicates an important event in the culture. For the narrator, an unnamed Sioux boy, the moons mark the time that must pass before he can hunt, dance, and wear snowshoes like his father and older brothers. Each of the 13 moons is described as a notch is added to the illustration of the moonstick, with a short poem-like description for each season. In the end, the reader is brought to a more modern time, and the Sioux boy is now an old man that lives in a town and sells headdresses and beadwork, while his brother works in a barbershop. It is a sudden and drastic change from the rest of the book, which depicted the Sioux in traditional dress and activity. The pictures on the last two pages show farms, roads, telephone lines, and tractors, revealing that within the man's lifetime, there were drastic changes. It seems as if the traditions and culture of the Sioux are gone, until the last page when the old man passes a Moonstick to his grandson, showing that tradition can live on, even if the world around them is changing.

Review:
I thought this a beautifully written and illustrated book that provides a sensitive and truthful view into the Sioux culture. The book seeks to show that although ancestral traditions have passed, there are ways to continue learning and carrying on traditions. As the father of the young narrator notches a moonstick at the beginning of each of the 13 moons of the Sioux year, and the boy notes his father’s words. The father observes philosophically that "life cannot be without sadness," for buffalo or for Sioux when discussing the hunt, which foreshadows the ending of the book. At one point, when the boy notices the land covered in snow, his father says, “changes come and will come again. It is so arranged.'' Soon it is time for a new moonstick, but then the book jumps to the boy as an old man, wearing more modern clothing, and the reader realizes that many moons have passed. Throughout the book, traditional Sioux dress and decoration are depicted for each event as the speaker celebrates the activities and ideas proper to each month. The two final pictures are a bit unexpected as it goes from a traditional depiction of Native Americans, wearing headdresses and living off the land, but the end shows the young boy, now an old man, in present day, with the words, "Many winters have passed.” He now lives in town and does not hunt. At first, this was very saddening to see, as the man looks out the window and explains how his culture is gone, but it is more uplifting when the narrator takes his small grandson to cut a stick, to pass on his father's wisdom and note that changes will come again. This really made me think about how important it is to carry on tradition, and also how sad it is that many people don not realize that Native Americans still live today, although small in population, they are part of the present. This book makes that connection and brings awareness to the changes in our country that greatly impacted the Native Americans way of living and the existence of their people.

Activities:
I think this book can be used across a wide range of grades because it sparks many questions and gives rise to different interpretations and ideas. The language and writing is simple, although there are several Native American words and ideas that mat be explained, but overall, I think students can read, listen to and appreciate this book. It can be used to introduce the Sioux culture and learn about traditions and special events they celebrated, such as when a boy is old enough to hunt.
This can also lead into discussions about what happened to the Sioux Nation, and why the changed occurred at the end of the story. The students will explore the reasons for the decrease of the Native American population and how colonization, westward expansion, and industrialization affected their lives.
Students will interview a Native American, or have a speaker come in to discuss their culture and history. The students can research and write letters to organizations to support Native American reservations and their communities. They can organize a rally or protest during elections or meetings about laws and acts involving Native American or other groups they know about that have been treated unjustly.
The students can think about their own cultures and research traditions of their ancestors through books, oral histories and interviews. They can make connections to their cultures by learning about which traditions are no longer observed and which traditions they still carry on.
The book can also provide insight into different calendar systems. The students can learn about different calendars and create their own based on the changes they see, or important event in their lives.

Domains of Social Justice:
1) Self-love and Acceptance: Student of Native American background may identify with the story and the changing of their culture, while other students will learn to appreciate their ancestral culture and traditions, and connect the traditions they follow with their ancestors.

2) Respect for Others: Students will learn about the Sioux nation and discuss their traditions and beliefs presenting in this book. They will learn that the Sioux were one of the many Native American tribes that inhabited the land we live on today, and they have a rich culture to share.

3) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students will discuss what happened to the Sioux Nation, as well as other Native American nations and tribes. They will discuss how racism affected the Native American population, and how European settlers and white pioneers sought to “reform” and oppress these indigenous people.

4) Social Movements and Social Change: Students will learn how Native American resisted oppression and fought to stay on their land. They will learn about laws that took land away from the Native Americans, as well as recent laws that have tried to counteract these now that the U.S. has realized the impact of their actions.

5) Taking Social Action: Students will be able to meet and talk to a Native American that is active in changing the laws and proving for his community. They will learn more about what types of laws there are, and what people can do to support Native American communities and reservations to help their society thrive. They can write letters provide support in other ways, not only on issues regarding Native Americans, but also other cultures that they have researched and found that their people are being oppressed.

The Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

2008-03-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

Title: The Mighty
Author: Rodman Philbrick
Summary: This novel is about 2 very different individuals who become best friends. Max, who is known as the giant because of his size, is made fun of as stupid and slow because of he has a learning disability. Kevin, the genius, but is made fun of because he is tiny and has a leg brace on. When Kevin was asked to tutor Max, they become the best of friends, and together they fight their way through their struggles and live a happy several months together, until Kevin leaves the world forever.
Reflection: The story of this book takes a somewhat different approach into social justice than a lot of the other books that I have found/read about. Likewise to the other books, this one talks about 2 individuals who are considered "different" from others. However, unlike the other books that talk about race, gender and so forth, this one talks about disabilities: learning and physical. This book brings a strong message to readers, emphasizing the power of being different and unique, but more importantly, the importance of self and peer acceptance. When one accepts who they are and who their friends are, it really does not matter what disabilities they have.
How would I use the book/curricular units: This book, I will use for upper elementary grades, 5-6. Of course, this book serves as a good resource to use for character development and character comparison lessons. This can also be a good unit for friendship, respect, being different and learning about disabilities. Students can discuss how they are unique, when they have been made fun of, and role playing can be used to represent these situations, extended with strategies and how people should treat others.

Social Justice:
1. Self-Love eand Acceptance: students learn to accept who they are and their uniqueness. They learn to understand that everyone is unique in their own ways and it's okay.
2. Respect for Others: Students learn that in addition to accepting themselves for who they are, they need to learn to understand and accept others for who they are. For some students, this may be an easier task than accepting themselves. However, for both 1 and 2, by students first starting to think about acceptance by taking role as either Max or Kevin, then slowly transitioning to their own lives may make these tasks easier.
3./4.Exploring Issues of Social Justice/Social Movements and Social Change: Students will role play and make videos of appropriate ways of treating others who are different than they are. They will make PDAs of respect, disabilities and other topics that stems out from this book.
5. Taking Social Action: Students can send letters to companies and places that discriminates against the disabled.

Mi sueno de America/My American Dream

2008-03-04T18:19:00.000-08:00

Title: Mi sueno de America/My American Dream
Author: Yuliana Gallegos

Summary: This story is really special because it is autobiographical. It was written by a twelve-year-old girl who moved from Monterrey, Mexico to Houston, Texas. What is even more wonderful is that the book is in both English and Spanish. Yuli, a fourth grader new to the United States is struck with culture shock when she enters her new Houston school. She quickly realizes that her English is not as good as she had thought. She cannot understand the teacher, and no one seems to want to help her. In fact, none of the students seem interested in her at all. With the help of a devoted family, she improves her English and works her way to the top of her class. Others seem to like her now. However, when she isn't invited to a "friend's" birthday party, she quickly realizes who her true friends are.

How I would use this in a classroom: This book is a wonderful way to encourage students in their writing. Yuli wrote this story as a twelve-year-old. It is a wonderful example of personal narrative writing. However, I think the most important part of this book is the story itself. Yuli was able to capture the emotional journey one takes when encountering a new culture as a child. Her thoughts were honest and sincere. In the end, she is able to find herself with another girl from Japan. I would also use this book for the Spanish. For students who come from Spanish speaking homes, reading a book that has Spanish in it will emphasize the importance of both languages in their lives.

Domains of Social Justice:

1.) Self-Love and Acceptance: Children learn about their own culture. Yuliana's culture is emphasized by her experiences in a new country. Not only does Yuliana learn to find her place in her new community by being herself, but she makes friends with a girl from Japan. Despite their different cultures, they find friendship in each other's similar experiences in a foreign country. In addition, the Spanish in the book makes Spanish just as important as English.

2.) Respect for Others: Strengthens intercultural competence. Yuliana is not judgmental of her seemingly unfriendly peers. Her mother always reminds her that it is hard for everyone to be around new people at first. Eventually, Yuli becomes friends with a girl from Japan.

3.) Exploring Issues of Social Justice- Racism, Classism, Sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression are confronted. Yuli seems to think that many of the students do not talk to her because they do not like people from Mexico. She notices that they help Shoko, her friend from Japan, just not her. It is not until she learns English fluently that they even say "Hello" to her.

Is There Really a Human Race? By: Jamie Lee Curtis

2008-03-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

Title: Is There Really a Human Race?

Authors: Jamie Lee Curtis

illustrator: Laura Cornell

Summary:
With the opening question "Is there really a human race?", this book talks about the human race as if it were an actual running race. Through out, it asks questions about getting ahead in life and why we compete with each other. It asks about cheating and making mistakes. However, toward the end of the book, it asks what would happen if we did not slow down and help each other. We will all CRASH, is the answer. the ultimate message of the book is to try your best and do what you can to help others in the race and make this place a better one for everyone you encounter during that race.

Reflections:
The play on words for the message of "race" was so cute and hysterical. Children sometimes have a hard time time considering things that are not concrete. It was genius in this case to relate such an abstract topic to something concrete that kids can relate to. The message of the book is such a basic but enormously important one to relay to students. Though it is important to be successful and run in the race, the race would not be possible if we do not help each other to succeed. Something that we have talked about a lot is the idea of allies. This book really promotes the idea that allies make the race even happen.

How to Use This Book in the Curriculum:
Since the book focuses on the human race, it would be a wonderful starting point to talk about "the human race" as we usually refer to it- people all over the world. Students sometimes have a hard time considering things aside from the world they live in. Expanding their horizons and making them aware of people outside their immediate community is a hard but possible feat. Studying people in the social studies curriculum would be enhanced by this book greatly. Also, the book is written in rhyme form. The TC curriculum does a lot with poetry and word study. Using this book within TC curriculum would be a great fit.

Domains of Social Justice:

1. Self-Love and Acceptance : Students learn to love themselves for who they are and understand that it is okay if they are not first or even second to finish the race.
2. Respect for Others: Students learn that the most important part of the race is to slow down help those who cannot finish the race themselves. If we do not help each other, no one will succeed.
3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students will explore that some people may need help in finishing the race, and some people do not want to help them. It is their responsibility to help those people in need and to change the mind and ways of those who do not want to help others.
4. Social Movements and Social Change: Students learn about how to be allies for those who cannot speak up for themselves. It is not enough to think about themselves, they must think about and help those around them to finish the race.

Websites:
http://www.amazon.com/There-Really-Human-Race/dp/0060753463

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/There-Really-Human-Race.html

Are You a Boy or a Girl

2008-03-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

Title: Are You a Boy or a Girl?

Author: Karleen Pendleton Jiminez

Summary: Told through photographs, drawings and a very approachable storyline, this story is about a girl who doesn't like to do many of the things that are stereotypically considered "girl things" to do, such as playing with make-up and dolls. She didn't think anything was wrong with that, because she was who she was and she liked what she liked, but many of her peers teased her and asked her if she was a boy or a girl, based on her haircut, her toys, and her athletic abilities. As she grew up, she constantly found herself defending her gender and having to answer to other people for her choices. She went home to her mom, very upset, and her mom explained to her that there are all types of people, with all types of interests, and essentially that's what makes her special, and eventually other people will understand her more.

From the title page of the book:
"Kids spend a lot of time debating with each other over what makes a boy a boy and a girl a girl. It's a time of choices. It's a time of creating themselves. It could be a time for blending and embracing the many ways they express themselves, but it is too often a time of narrowing the possibilities of who they can be. Are You a Boy or a Girl? enters into this conversation and opens it up. It is the story of a child thinking through who she is, a child learning through her mother's love how to be both strong and soft."

Reflections: This story is simple and a quick read that will make a great read-aloud in the morning on any day of school followed by a powerful conversation. I think that the story brings an important issue to light in a way that is appropriate for students of young ages, and gets them thinking about the way they look at people and judge them, and how much assumptions and mean-spirited questions can hurt others.

How would I use the book/curricular units: I would use this book with any class from Pre-School aged students through third or fourth grade, depending on the strength of the community within the classroom. It opens up the conversation about gender roles and gender-based stereotypes in a gentle, familiar way for students to explore and discuss. Some questions I would use to motivate the conversation include "Why are certain activities and choices considered "girl things" and "boy things"? Do they have to be?" I would have students sort out activities and objects such as a baseball and a hat into categories of "boy things" "girl things" and "anybody things" before reading the book, and then begin the discussion by asking them to defend some of their choices to place things in gender specific categories. After reading the book, we could look back to our sorted objects and activities and acknowledge that all of them could fit into the "anybody" category. TC wise, we could also explore character speech and analyze the way the other people in the story spoke to the main character, and see what we know about them based on what they said. We could look at the different between an inference in literature and an assumption about another person in older grades (2nd, 3rd, 4th).

Domains of Social Justice:

1. Domain of self love and acceptance:

Students will feel more confident making choices based on their own feelings and not based on what they think they need to do based on their gender. Students will accept their own feelings and choices.

2. Respect for Others:

Students will respect the choices and interests of others, even when they are different from their own.

3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice:

Students will understand that words can be hurtful and stereotypes can lead to hateful speech and unfounded assumptions and judgements about others.

Internet Links:
Book for sale on Teachingforgchange.org http://www9.mailordercentral.com/teachingforchange/prodinfo.asp?number=AREYOU

Leo the Late Bloomer

2008-03-03T18:58:00.001-08:00

Leo The Late Bloomer
Author: Robert Kraus
Pictures by Jose Aruego

http://www.amazon.com/Leo-Late-Bloomer-Robert-Kraus/dp/006443348X

Summary: Leo is a tiger that cannot do anything. He can't read, write, draw, speak, nor eat properly. His father asks what was wrong, but his mother says that Leo is just a late bloomer. The father watches Leo, but he still sees no progress. After the mother told him that a bloomer cannot bloom when being watched, Leo's father stopped watching. Then one day, Leo was able to read, write, draw, and eat properly. When he spoke, he said a whole phrase. "I made it!"

Reflection: I liked this book because it was so simple, yet it had a strong lesson to it. The pictures told a thousand words, even when there were actually only a few words on the page. The tiger looked sad while all the other animals looked like they were "normal" and they were able to do the things Leo couldn't. I think the book works for all grade levels, which is one of the reasons why I like it so much.

Activities: It was hard at first to come up with activities from such a "simple" book, but when I looked into it more deeply, I realize that there are a few things I can do with it. Students can make a list of answers to the following questions: Do you remember the first time that you ___? (walked, talked, wrote, drew, etc.) If so, how did it feel and when were you first able to do it? Have students share and then read the book. After the story, ask students if they have ever made a judgment on someone based on when they did something that they felt was slower or faster than someone else (the rate of development). Then have students respond to the story - did they think Leo would ever bloom? How do they think he felt when he could not eat as nicely as all the other animals? Have a class discussion. In addition to this discussion, the teacher can talk about how everyone inherits genes and characteristics from their parents. Put an emphasis that everyone grows and develops at a different rate and that it is important to respect each other for that.
Another activity is to ask students to picture people with disabilities and those who are physically disabled or even blind and deaf. Discuss physical and developmental challenges and be sensitive to all. Have students develop reasons for accepting people for their characters and not appearance. Help them understand why it is important to accept for what is on the inside rather than make judgments for what they see on the outside. Make a chart and segway into respect, diversity, and tolerance in the classroom.

Social Justice Domain:
1. Self-Love and Acceptance : Students learn to love themselves for who they are. They will understand that it is okay if they are growing at a different rate than someone else.
2. Respect for Others: Students learn that in addition to accepting themselves, they have to tolerate others. It is not the appearance that they need to accept, but the characters of the people and who they are.
3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students will explore the meaning of the rate of development and confront forms of oppression that occur, such as bullying someone for being "slower" or "shorter."
4. Social Movements and Social Change: Students learn how they can help one another by learning that classroom behaviors towards one another will help one another learn. They will learn to speak up against those who look down upon late bloomers.
5. Taking Social Action: Students can teach others about the importance of accepting one another for the way they are because everyone is different, and everyone has a different rate of development. When they see someone being teased, for example, they will speak up.

Pink and Say

2008-03-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

Title & Author: Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco

Link: http://www.patriciapolacco.com/

Reflection of the book: This book is about two boys, Pink and Say, who are both soldiers “flying Union colors,” who befriend each other in the midst of the Civil War. Pink finds Say, wounded and hurt, and takes him home where he and his mother nurse him back to health. However, knowing that they are putting Pink’s mother in danger by staying there, they decide to leave. One step too late, though, and the marauders come to their house. Pink’s mother hides the two boys in her cellar, and ends up being killed. The two boys run off, only to be captured by Confederate soldiers; they are separated, never to see each other again.

I like the book because of the strong friendship the two boys had between each other, despite the time period when many people disapproved of interracial friendships. Also, the book falls into the genre of historical fiction – the story was passed down to the author, Patricia Polacco, from generations past. It is a friendship that the “real” Pink believed was important and influential enough to pass down to his children, and a story Polacco believed was important enough to put into print.

How would you use the book?

I would use this book within a genre study of friendship, historical fiction, an author study or even a history unit on the Civil War. The book is high in content material, so would be suitable even for 3^rd or 4rth grade. However, the illustrations are great that even a younger audience would appreciate the book.

For a historical fiction unit, this book can be used as a read aloud (though it may be best to only read parts of the book at a time due to its length) to introduce historical fiction. Students can discuss what elements they see that are different from what they know. Students can also see how there are historical elements placed into the book, and that they need to have at least a small understanding of those historical elements to fully understand the book. In a historical unit, this book can demonstrate how segregation and war affected people. Students can read the book with a greater understanding of the life and hardships during that time. Students may even be able to better relate to the book, as the main characters are young in age.

How does it fall into the domains of SJE?

This book addresses “Respect for Others.” The book demonstrates how Pink, an African American, went out of his way to rescue and bring Say, a White soldier, back to his home. The two characters in the book did not let color and differences hinder them from developing a strong friendship.

This book addresses “Exploring Issues of Social Justice.” At the end of the book, when Pink and Say are separated, the author states Pink was hanged a few hours after he was separated from Say, whereas Say was placed into a jail for the remainder of the war. If Pink had been White, would he have been placed into a jail cell, and bypassed death? Most likely. Students will begin to gain an understanding of the forms of oppression between races from reading this book, and will see why those factors led to the Civil War.

What curricular units does it connect to? Friendship, Historical Fiction

You Think It's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy?

2008-03-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

You Think It's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy? by Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/You-Think-Its-Easy-Being-the-Tooth-Fairy/Sheri-Bell-Rehwoldt/e/9780811854603/?itm=1

Summary: You Think It's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy? is the story of the Tooth Fairy. This is not the sterotypical Tooth Fairy. She describes herself as "an action kind of gal" who is tough and smart. She describes how much work it is to go from house to house each night and collect and carry hundreds of teeth. She uses all sorts of gadgets technology to help her along the way, such as her Tooth-o-Finder, which locates teeth that have fallen out of children's mouths. You Think It's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy is a fresh look at the Tooth Fairy and fairies in general.

Reflections: I first read this book as a bedtime story. I thought it was cute, but had not really put any thought into the story. Then we did the workshop on Fairy Tales and stereotypes and I realized that this story is a wonderful way to look at the stereotypes that society has about fairies and females. The Tooth Fairy in this story does not wear dresses and carry a magic wand. She wears a jumpsuit and has spy-like gadgets that help her to locate and collect children's teeth. She also has no issues saying she is athletic. She does not want help from anyone. I think that this story would be a way to show positive representations of females to children.

How would I use the book/curriculum units: As a mentioned above, this book would be a good way to introduce stereotypes in a classroom with younger children. The teacher could use this book in conjunction with another book about the Tooth Fairy or any other fairy. The children could listen to both stories and look at the differences and similarities they find. The teacher could lead a discussion about how boys and girls like to do a lot of the same things and a lot of different things. The students should begin to see that gender should not be a determinant as to what someone does.

Domains of Social Justice:
1) Self-love and acceptance: Students will learn the love the activities that they do and not worry about whether boys should do that or girls should dot that.
2) Respect for others: Students will learn to respect others and the special things about them. They will learn not to stereotype people based on who they are.
3) Exploring issues of social justice: Students will start to see how groups of people are stereotyped within society. They will see how it effects people negatively.

The Name Jar

2008-03-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

Summary: The Name Jar is a story about Unhei, a girl who has recently arrived to the U.S. from Korea. When she tells the students her name on her bus ride to school, the students tease her about her name. She becomes embarrassed about her name and hesitates to tell her classmates when they ask. Instead, she tells them that she just has not decided on a name yet. Her classmates give her suggestions for names, and she puts them in a jar. She has a difficult time choosing a name that suits her, trying out the different names but never liking the names enough to keep them. Eventually, with the help of a friend, she decides to keep her name because she realizes that she likes her name just the way it is and is proud to share it with the class.

Reflection: What I like about this book is that it teaches students to not just accept but to embrace their own culture. Unhei ultimately keeps her name, not simply because she could not find a better alternative but because she realizes the importance and uniqueness of her name. I also like how students can learn a little more about the Korean culture, as it makes some reference to it.

How I Would Use This Book/Curriculum Units:

This book would help in building a strong and supportive community in the classroom at the beginning of the year. Students can research the origins of their own names and/or their meanings and then share what they have found with the rest of the class. Students will then be able to learn more about each other and become more comfortable with one another. Additionally, students can also do research on their own culture and share this with the class. This will be accompanied by a discussion on differences in culture or otherwise and how being different is a positive thing and how it makes us all unique. This book can also be a part of a math unit on probability, as an introduction or the basis to a word problem. Students can figure out the probability of Unhei drawing one of her classmates’ names if she had decided to go with that strategy of picking a name from a jar.

Domains of Social Justice:

1) Self-Love and Acceptance: Students will learn that they should be proud of their own culture because it is such an important part of who they are.

2) Respect for Others: Students learn about the origin of other students’ names, and they learn about other students’ cultures as well. They do this by listening and keeping an open mind about others’ cultures, thereby showing respect to each other and their cultures.

3) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students will learn about behaviors that may seem harmless but actually have negative cultural implications to them such as making fun of someone else’s ethnic name.

5) Taking Social Action: Students will learn that they should say something if they hear people teasing other people about their name or culture.

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Name-Jar-Yangsook-Choi/dp/0440417996/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204475151&sr=8-2

Ten Amazing People and How They Changed the World

2008-03-01T12:51:00.000-08:00

Title: Ten Amazing People and How They Changed the World
Author: Maura Shaw
Age Range: 6 and up
Summary: This is a non-fiction reference book to keep in your classroom. Each with a four-page spread, ten different peaceful leaders and advocates of social change are highlighted in this book. These leaders include: Black Elk, Dorothy Day, Malcolm X, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Janusz Korczak, Mother Teresa, Albert Schweitzer, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Desmond Tutu. While some of the individuals are well-known, this book includes lesser-known names. Furthermore, the range of individuals is quite diverse, including individuals from many different countries, religions, cultures, and with different causes.

Reflections: I was immediately drawn in by the fantastic illustrations in this book. (In the back there are even a few sentences explaining each illustration). The language is very accessible to children. For younger children, it is a great way to introduce them to different leaders. Besides a general overview of each person and a stunning portrait, there are “Fascinating Facts,” a timeline of important events, famous quotes, and sometimes important vocabulary for each of these leaders. The book is very visually stimulating (without being overwhelming) in order to help attract kids to reading this book. For older children, this book is a great starting point for them to understand some of these extraordinary individuals.

How to use this book in the curriculum:
- great Read Aloud
- a model for features of non-fiction
- could be used during a biography unit
- could be used during a research unit

Domains of Social Justice:
Self-Love and Acceptance – If any of my students share the same background of one of these individuals they are learning about how their people have made a difference in the world, creating a sense of pride.
Respect for Others – This book includes different leaders of many cultures and which have worked along side an even wider range of people from around the world. This introduction to these leaders and their work will increase my students’ intercultural competence.
Exploring Issues of Social Justice – Because each of these leaders have various causes for which they fought, the readers will be exposed to a variety of issues of social justice.
Social Movements and Social Change – This book mostly falls under this category. Though not an in-depth book focusing on one person, this book will help students learn about ten different figures in history which have struggled for social change.

Whistle for Willie

2008-03-01T11:48:00.000-08:00

Whistle for Willie
By Ezra Jack Keats

Link to the book: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Whistle-for-Willie/Ezra-Jack-Keats/e/9780140502022/?itm=1

Summary: A boy named Peter tries and tries to learn how to whistle. He practices every day until all of his hard work paid off and is then able to whistle. When Peter realizes that he can whistle, his doe Willie looks around to see who is whistling and calling him. Peter becomes so happy with himself and what he was able to do, that he whistles for the whole walk home.

Reflection: This book is great for children of all ages because it shows the importance of practicing and working hard to order to achieve something important to you. The character Peter is someone who everyone can relate to since he shows the reader that a person should never give up or stop working hard. Sometimes it takes many attempts and a long time in order to be able to do what one wants. Colorful illustrations accompany the text with each attempt that Peter tries to learn to whistle.

How I would use the book/curriculum units: This book would fit well into a “writing as mentor author study” on Ezra Jack Keats. Students would learn a different writing strategy for several Ezra Jack Keats books. The strategy for Whistle for Willie could be the use of ellipses to build tension when reading. For younger grades, students could list things that they would like to be able to do and either write journal entries or draw pictures. They could then share with a partner or the class and discuss how they will feel when their hard work pays off and they are able to do these things.

Links to Websites:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/westonwoods/study_guides/whistle_for_willie.pdf

http://school.familyeducation.com/reading-instruction/resource/30357.html

http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/BuilderV03/LPTools/LPShared/lpdisplay.asp?LPID=15746

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=1023

Domains of Social Justice:

1.) Self-Love and Acceptance: Children learn about their own culture. Peter’s neighborhood is one that is diverse and varied and is present throughout many different Ezra Jack Keats books. Throughout the story, Peter learns about himself and his own abilities as he struggles to learn how to whistle.

2.) Respect for Others: Strengthens intercultural competence. Peter becomes competent at whistling, as he tries to learn how to whistle. He pretends to be his father to add to his own strengths and learn about his background in hope of learning how to whistle.

3.) Exploring Issues of Social Justice- Racism, Classism, Sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression are confronted. When Peter walks through the neighborhood with Willie, there is graffiti on the walls and streets which he passes through. His neighborhood is one where there are forms of racism and although it is not explicitly written in the books, the graffiti on the walls depicts this.

4.) Social Movements and Social Change- Students learn about how people have struggled for social change. Peter learns to accept others for what they can and cannot do. He learns that different people have strengths and weaknesses, such as different abilities and that it is important to accept people for who they are.

5.) Taking Social Action: Students explore their own context and develop tools to work for change. Through his many attempts at learning how to whistle, Peter learns about himself in so far as what works and what did not help him learn to whistle. It is these attempts that he was finally able to bring about that change; learning how to whistle and attaining his goal. He came across many obstacles and was able to learn something that he put his mind to.

Ruby the Copycat

2008-03-01T07:55:00.000-08:00

Title: Ruby the Copycat

Author/Illustrator: Peggy Rathmann

Link to book: http://www.amazon.com/Ruby-Copycat-Peggy-Rathmann/dp/0590474235

Summary: Kindergarten-Grade 2. It seems that something other than coincidence is at work when diminutive Ruby, a newcomer to Miss Hart's class, is entranced by schoolmate Angela's attention-getting red bow and returns from lunch with an identical bow atop her head. Ruby's maddening habit becomes increasingly apparent as she happily endures a rainbow of wet paint in imitation of Angela's hand-painted outfit, proudly plagiarizes Angela's poetry and tries pink press-on nails after admiring Miss Hart's manicure. Finally, challenged to display a talent all her own, Ruby admits that she likes to hop and masterfully bounces around her desk. To her surprise, she impresses her classmates and wins Angela's friendship at last. Rathmann's expressively illustrated, quirky and individualistic first book encourages readers to have confidence and not to take skills, however unimpressive they may seem, for granted.

Reflection: This was one of my favorite books as a child. I loved the colorful light pictures that the illustrator used. I was able to relate to Ruby who is a new student to this school. Her insecurity and her desire to want to fit into this school made her copy the beautiful and sweet, Angela. I would think to myself, "Oh no, Ruby, don't copy Angela anymore!" This book allows you to feel a number of different emotions, and realize, "Hey, it's good to be yourself!"

How Would I Use the Book: This book can be used to build community in the classroom. One activity can be to wrap a box so the inside of the box is hidden from the outside view. Draw question marks on the cover of the box and place a mirror inside the box. Explain to the class at the meeting area that everyone will see something different when they look into the box. One by one, I will have the students look into the box. After every child finishes looking, I will ask the students to create what they saw on a white sheet of paper - self portrait. Also, I will ask the students to write a few interesting facts about what they saw in the box. We will meet back at the rug as a whole group, and discuss how we are all different and unique. Mention taht even though we are all special individuals, we need to work together as a team in our classroom. Make a class book with everyone's self portrait.

Domains of Social Justice

1. Self Love and Acceptance: Students will learn to love and appreciate who they are as individuals. They will understand that trying to be like someone else is not the best way to approach things.

2. Respect for Others: Students will learn to appreciate each other's uniqueness and support their classmates. One will learn how to manage personal space, but at the same time learn to be close as friends.

3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice: This boko is all about loving yourself and accepting people for who they are.

4. Social Movements and Social Change: Students will learn to accept one another and get along. Students build a strong and loving community where they all appreciate and learn from each other.

5. Taking Social Action: Students can share what they learned with their community and families. They can make a book and have it published. The book can be made for each grade in the school so students can enjoy and learn.

2008-02-28T13:16:00.000-08:00

Title: Pink and Say

Author/Illustrator: Patricia Polacco

Link to book: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Pink-and-Say/Patricia-Polacco/e/9780399226717/?itm=1

Summary: Grade 4 Up-This picture book set during the Civil War is very different from the usual Polacco books in terms of content and audience. It is certainly the deepest and most serious book she has done. Say Curtis, 15, a white boy, lies badly wounded in a field in Georgia when Pinkus Aylee, an African American Union soldier about Sheldon's age, finds him and carries him home to his mother, Moe Moe Bay. Say is nursed back to health by Moe Moe Bay's nuturing care. But then she is killed by marauders, and the boys return to their units. They are then are captured and taken to Andersonville, where Pink is hanged within hours of their capture. One of the most touching moments is when Pink reads aloud from the Bible to Moe Moe and Say. Say tells them that he can't read, but then he offers something he's very proud of: he once shook Abraham Lincoln's hand. This is a central image in the story, and is what ties the boys together for a final time, as Pink cries, "'Let me touch the hand that touched Mr. Lincoln, Say, just one last time.'" The picture of their clasped hands, with the hands of the soldiers wrenching them apart, is exceptionally moving. Polacco's artwork, in fact, has never been better. She uses dramatic perspectives, dynamic compositions, and faces full of emotion to carry her powerful tale. History comes to life in this remarkable book.

How would I use the book/curriculum units: This is a great story to teach children about history. Although this is a picture book it is reccomended for grades 4 and up. This is a great book that can be integrated into a social studies curriculum by teaching about the civil war.

Reflections: I feel that this is an extremely powerful and moving story. This is a good book to use in the classroom especially since it shows that not everyone felt the same way, just because a lot of people were fighting for slavery doesn't mean there weren't exceptions. It is a good example to display to both white and African American students.This book depicts an African American boy helping out a white boy despite the fact that the white people were individuals who were keeping them inslaved.

Domains of Social Justice:

1. Self love and acceptance: This book displays Say a character who not ashamed of being African American and is very passionate about fighting for his freedoms. We should love and accept ourselves for who we are and never be ashamed of it.

2. Respect for others: We learn through this book the importance to respect others and their cultures. Despite the differences between the two boys cultures they still respected each other. 3. Exploring issues of social justice: The book definitely opens doors to a discussion on racism and what that looked like at the time of the civil war.
4. Social movements and social change: The book takes place during the civil war a time period in which people are fighting for social change. The book also depicts how Say is scared to go back to his unit but he feels he owes it to Pink to go back and fight. The character faces a moral struggle to do what is best for him or to do what is right.

5. Taking social action: Say took social action by retelling the story, and keeping the memory of Pink alive. He took action by raising awarness.

We are all alike...We are all different

2008-02-27T19:47:00.000-08:00

Grade Level: K
Title: We are all alike…We are all different
Author & Illustrator: Cheltenham Elementary School Kindergartners

Summary: This book is about the way that people are different and alike. The book talks about the way we look, our families, the places we live, the food we eat, and the things we like to do. It talks about how we are alike because we are people, we have families, we live somewhere, we eat food, and we like to play but then for each section it says that we are different and explains how and why we are different from each other. This is a great book because it was written and illustrated by a Kindergarten elementary school.

Reflections: I really liked this book. I love that it is written and illustrated by other students. The book seems so simple but has such a powerful message of acceptance and tolerance that will be really important for young students to learn.

How Would I Use the Book: This book can be used in a variety of ways. We could do exactly what those students did and we could make up our own book and make our own pictures. We could use it to make "All about me" books and share the things about ourselves and how we are different. We could share about our families and where we live and what we look like. It could also be a whole unit on diversity and the meaning behind that word.

Domains of Social Justice:
1. Self-Love and Acceptance: Students would learn about their families and where their from and would be encourage to accept that.
2. Respect for Others: Students would learn about their fellow classmates and would be asked to respect each other and they would see how in the book all the students saw that they were the same but also different.
3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice: This book teaches the students to accept one another for who they are. This book would help the students to explore the issue of acceptance and trying to promote that around our communities and world.
4. Social Movements and Social Change: Students will learn to accept one another and see beyond their differences. Hopefully talking about this will go beyond the classroom and the students could even make a published book of their own and spread the message of acceptance and tolerance.
5. Taking Social action – The students can share what they learned with the people around them and start taking action by practicing acceptance and tolerance.

Young People's Stories of Respect by Henry & Melissa Billings

2008-02-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

(No Image Available)

Grade Level: 1-2-3-4-5

Summary: Stories of Respect is part of a collection of books that focus on character. This particular book contains four mini stories that explore respect within different cultural contexts. Stories from this book examine: the importance of people vs. the outside appearance in Syria, appreciating friendship and talents of others in Mexico, respect of nature symbolizing the hierarchy of people (from England), and valuing age and wisdom in Japan.

Reflections: This book is beautifully illustrated and relates a very importance message concerning character that is appropriate for all age groups. Each story takes on a different format (poetry, realistic fiction, fable, short story moment) that integrates smoothly into other subject areas. Each mini story contains a finishing paragraph on that connects the moral of the story to character development. Each story has the possibility of being explored from surface level to a deep, meaningful understanding.

How Would I Use the Book: This book can be used in a multitude of ways across the following content areas: theme, reading and writing. Topic areas for each would include: character development, cultural appreciation, study of cultures and tradition, read aloud, independent reading, shared reading, book club partners, most reading strategies in the TC workshop, social issues, reinforce behavior management, explore new geners, series study, family, friendship, etc.

Domains of Social Justice: 1.) Self-Love and Acceptance: Children learn about different cultures, an appreciation for self-identity, friends, family and how to develop their own unique character. 2.) Respect for Others: Children learn how differences makes others unique and why it is important to treat others with respect. Children also learn to develop a strong community within their classroom and school. 3.) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students will understand how the treatment of others (hate, discrimination, judgment, love, etc.) affects the world at large. 4.) Social Movements and Social Change: Students will explore current situations occurring within the world and why these injustices are occurring today. 5.) Taking Social Action: Students will create raise awareness of the respect of others, its importance, and how as a community we can promote change for good. Students could speak with other classes and create public service announcements.

Resources:

Buy the book: www.Amazon.com

The full collection of Young People’s Stories: (Stories of…fairness, cooperation, hard work, patience, courage, kindness, peacefulness, sharing and truthfulness)

http://aesop.creighton.edu/jcupub/fables3/catalog/series/Young%20People's%20Stories.html

The Peace Book

2008-02-26T21:29:00.001-08:00

Title: The Peace Book

Author: Todd Parr

Link: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=the+peace+book

Summary:

The Peace Book is a beautifully illustrated picture book that conveys powerful messages behind simple words to define peace in different contexts. Peace messages that convey equity: “Peace is having enough pizza in the world for everyone”. Peace messages
that touch upon multiculturalism: “Peace is learning another language”. Peace messages that
deal with homelessness: “Peace is everyone having a home”. Peace messages of friendship: “Peace is making new friends”. Peace messages of tolerance: “Peace is saying sorry when you hurt someone” and so many more.

Reflection:

The vivid cartoon-like pictures of this book most definitely grabbed my attention right away. I was even more drawn to this book after I read the author’s note inside the first page of the book. He wrote that “he remembers being excited in grade school every year when he got his orange UNICEF box and went door to door collecting money. He always felt good that he was making a difference. Growing up, he never fully understood how big the world was or the impact one person can have on someone a world away. Now, he understands it better and hopes that donating part of the proceeds from this book will help UNICEF spread its message of peace to the world”. I think that Todd Parr has succeeded in making a difference to those who read this book. He has taken a challenging and complex topic such as “peace” and made it more tangible for children all around and adults like myself!

How would I use the book/curriculum units:

This book is great because it can be used as a jumping start for many social justice issues such as homelessness, friendships, tolerance, multiculturalism, equity, being different, caring for the environment and much more which all fall under the big “peace” umbrella . Todd Parr also has many other books that may be helpful when teaching about any of the above topics. The following link lists information about his other very popular books: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=todd+parr

Domains of Social Justice:

1) Self-love and acceptance: “Peace is being who you are”.
2) Respect for others: “Peace is helping your neighbor”, “Peace is keeping the water blue for all the fish”, “Peace is saying you are sorry when you hurt someone”.
3) Exploring issues of social justice: “Peace is listening to different kinds of music”, “Peace is learning another language”, “Peace is traveling to different places”.
4) Social movements and social change: “Peace is giving shoes to someone who needs them”, “Peace is sharing a meal”.
5) Taking social action: “Peace is being different, feeling good about yourself and helping others. The world is a better place because of you!”

Fly Away Home

2008-02-20T06:12:00.000-08:00

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780395664155&itm=1

Summary: Fly Away Home is the story of a little boy and his father who live in the airport. The book describes the daily living situation they experience: traveling from one terminal to the next based on flight schedules, returning luggage carts for spare change, trying to remain unnoticed from one day to the next. The little boy talks about his friends in the airport and the difficulties they face being homeless. One day a bird flies into the terminal and the boy cheers for it to get free, out of the confines of the airport.

Reflections: This is a wonderful book to introduce younger children to the concept of homelessness. It exposes the harsh realities of not having a place to live, but does not paint a frightening picture. Throughout the book, the boy is very positive and keeps hope that he and his father will rise out of this period in their lives. I think this sends a good message to readers, since the tone of the book is not depressing. I believe that children could begin to understand what it is like to be without a home without assuming homeless people live in cardboard boxes.

How would I use the book/curriculum unit: This book would serve as a great start to a unit on community and homes. The boy and his father do not live in a house of their own, but they do have some place that they can think of as their home. Students could get an idea of what sorts of things homeless people face. From there, students might go on a trip to a shelter or a soup kitchen to see how one group of people live. I have also used this book in a lesson on symbolism. The bird in the book symbolizes the little boy and getting free of the confines of the airport. I had my kids create their own symbols in their realistic fiction pieces that symbolized the desires of the character.

Domains of Social Justice:
1) Self-love and acceptance: Students learn to appreciate their lives and what they have, such as a home and a bed to sleep in.
2) Respect for others: Students learn to respect the lives that other people, be it different from their own. They will look past stereotypes of homeless people to understand that poverty is a real issue in the US.
3) Exploring issues of social justice: Students will begin to look at ways in which people are forced into poverty and the injustices that people face that result in homelessness.
4) Social movements and social change: Students will look at ways in which people have tried to deal with poverty in the US. They will see the successes and failures of such endeavors.
5) Taking social action: Students will begin to raise awareness of homelessness and poverty. They will talk to politicians and community members to help people in need.

A Little Piece of Ground by Elizabeth Laird w/ Sonia Nimr

2008-02-10T19:32:00.000-08:00

Grade Level: 4-5-6

Summary: A Little Piece of Ground is an incredible story about a young boy by the name of Karim, who is living through the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This beautifully written novel brings to life the aspirations and the daily struggles of Karim, whose only desire is to play soccer, but the strict curfew keeps him inside for hours to days on end. When the curfew is lifted, Karim makes ever attempt to escape from the house and play with his new friend Hopper. They discover an abandoned ground and clear it to create a makeshift soccer field. One day Karim loses track of time and is outside on grounds when the curfew is enforced. Karim’s only option is to hide out in an abandoned car near the field. Days later he is spotted by the soldiers and endures great pain and risks in hopes of seeing his family again.

Reflections: This is my favorite children’s book thus far. Not only did it allow me to experience a different world of my own, but it also encouraged me to educate myself on matters still occurring in the Middle East. This read is very captivating and therefore difficult to start/finish en route on the subway. The language and style of writing would easily draw in any child or adult. You experience every emotion in this read and you start to become one with the character, Karim. Your own judgments of others and culture is tested in this book as Karim experiences the cultural judgments he has on other groups of people and vice versa. The title may be difficult for younger students to understand. It is a metaphor for the bigger problem of Palestine wanting independence while Israelis oppress them.

How Would I Use the Book: This book can be used in a variety of ways. It could integrate content areas of theme, history and literacy. Topic areas for each would include: cultural appreciation, study of the other countries (particular Middle East…historically & today), government structures, Read Aloud, Independent Reading, Book Clubs, almost all reading strategies modeled in reader’s workshop, stop & jots, reader’s response, if your school permits a discussion on types of religion, author study, comparison study of life as a teenager, friendship, family structure, etc.

Domains of Social Justice: 1. Self-Love and Acceptance: Children learn about their own culture, an appreciation for friends and family, understanding their own identity and what that means in this large world. 2. Respect for Others: Children learn about the encounters Karim has and learn to understand the daily encounters they have with others, who are the same or different or both. What actions can they take to minimize hostility between people? Groups of people? 3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students learn about the roles of sex (societal perspective), how cultural groups are oppressing one another and what results due to it all. 4. Social Movements and Social Change: Students learn of the different identities that are present in the classroom and learn about appreciating the uniqueness that is present in all of us.

Resources:

Full Summary of Book:
http://archive.ramallahonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1841

Buying the Book:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781931859387&itm=1

2008-02-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

Title: Maniac Magee

Author: Jerry Spinelli

Summary: Jeffrey "Maniac" Magee is a young boy who had to deal with the horrific death of his parents. After their death, he ran away from home and found himself in a small town plagued by racism. This town was literally divided in half by the main road. The black people lived on one side, and the white people lived on the other. The two groups did not even imagine crossing the main road. Maniac, however, does not understand or believe in the racism that is felt by this town. So, he travels throughout the town to try to change the beliefs of the people who live there.

Social Justice: This book obviously teaches about racism and offers a perfect example for what it means to stand up for what you believe in. It answers many questions surrounding the issue of racism and then empowers students by showing progressive change.

Teaching Resources:

http://atkinson.esu8.org/maniac/fun_in_the_kitchen.htm

http://www.mce.k12n.net/reading47/maniac_magee.htm, http://www.teachervision.fen.com/literature/activity/8976.html#activities

TV Movie: http://imbd.com/title/tt0246063/

To Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Maniac-Magee-Jerry-Spinelli/dp/0590452037/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202672247&sr=8-1

Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni

2008-02-08T09:18:00.000-08:00

Summary This is the story of two best friends: little blue and little yellow. They go to school and play everyday until one day they can't find each other. Finally, they reunite and the two friends hug until little blue and little yellow both become little greens! They go home and are rejected by their parents who do not recognize their own children! Not wanted in their own homes little blue and little yellow meet again and cry. Their tears change little blue and little yellow back to their original colors. Little blue speeds off to explain everything to his parents who are so overjoyed that they go running across the street to tell little yellow's parents. Then their parents end up hugging until they themselves turn green. Reflections This book is a story of friendship, differentness and (in)tolerance. The attributes of two best friends meld into a new form and that differentness. This book would be a great tool to begin to integrate social justice into the early grades because the book is short and the plot is simple and the text is accessible to young independent readers. Also, the simplicity of the story is carried over into the artwork which can easily tell a story without the words the pages. How would I use the book/curriculum units In the earlier grades this book is a great tool on friendship. A little of you rubs off on your friend and a little of your friends rub off on you. And you might change a bit, but you're still you on the inside. With older students it can be a lesson on racial tolerance. What happens when you mix all the colors? You get this blackish color. If you squeeze that through a prism you get white. And all the other colors in-between. Why isn't it alright for mama and papa blue to have a green son? Speak of families and skin color. A literal mix of races and colors as well as the mesh of different cultures. The cultural differences between different cultures of the same skin color. Domains of Social Justice 1. Self-love and acceptance: Children learn about their own culture Students learn to be proud of who they are through little blue and little yellow 2. Respect for Others: Strengthens intercultural competence Students learn that there is nothing wrong with being friends with people who are different and that is also okay to be different yourself. 3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Racism, classism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression are confronted Students see how even little blue and little yellow's parents reacted to their own children because they were different. But then see how they learned to accept that difference and even became different themselves.

Taste of Salt

2008-02-06T09:24:00.001-08:00

Summary: Taste of Salt is a story about a young teen in Haiti during an important political time for the country. The young teen, Djo, tells his story of the years leading to the ultimate political uprising and installation of a democracy and president of Haiti. Djo has had an interesting perspective. He lived with the future president for several years and, though young, was a leader of political change in the country. When Djo finds himself in a hospital bed, struggling for his life, a young girl, Jeremie, is sent to record his story. As she listens to his almost lifeless words, she finds herself mesmerized and reminded of her own story. Together their lives retold offer a painfully detailed depiction of Haiti's struggle toward freedom in the 1980s.

Reflections: This book does not gloss over the ugly and horrific details that political uprisings and revolutions may bring on. I love the way these complicated times are told through the eyes of two young teens. Their experiences and their age offer a unique perspective to the situation. Instead of looking back at the revolution from an outsider's view, we are able to get into the nitty gritty of the war. Often times concepts of war are politics seem foreign to students. By learning about them through a young person's perspective, they may be able to relate to the concepts and characters . The author also does a tremendous job of capturing the voices of the young people. She writes the way Djo may have really spoken. Though this might be difficult for students to understand at first, ultimately it beautifully shows differences in dialects. I think this would be a great read aloud for 5th or 6th graders or an independent read for middle schoolers, depending on reading level.

How would I use this book?: This book would be great to open up discussion about war and politics. In a TC or related curriculum, this book could fit into many units. The development of the characters is done beautifully, and it is a good example of perspective and storytelling. What I think this book captures best, however, is the story of a young boy struggling to make a change in his country. Although he is poor, uneducated, and young, he still works hard for social change. And in the end, he does make a difference for his country. I think this would be a great book for students to read and talk about, thinking about ways in which they could make a change in their country, community, house, school, etc. In addition, this book opens up concepts of different cultures and ways of living.

Domains of Social Justice: 1.) Self-love and Acceptance: Students will read about an example of two young people who, despite coming from different upbringings, find ways to relate to each other and love each other. Also, this book is great for students with Haitian background or Dominican since it shows both sides of each culture (mostly Haitian). 2.) Respect for others: Students see that it is impossible to judge someone just from where they are from. 3.) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Racism, classism, and ageism are all confronted in this story. 4.) Social Movements and Social Change: Djo and his crew struggle and risk their lives for social change in this story. Jeremie also does her part, even though she comes from an educated and conservative background. 5.) Taking Social Action: Djo is educated about politics and uses his knowledge to take social action. He advertises for the future president, and he doesn't back down. There is also a clear view of what the future president does to get to his position, preaching concepts of truth and action.

My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken, and Me ~ Maya Angelo

2008-02-06T08:09:00.001-08:00

Thandi, which translates as Hope, is a young Ndebele girl of South Africa. This strong and vibrant girl takes us through her village and her life. She presents readers with all that is important and good in her eyes. In addition to being a treasure of a book in terms of culture, there is also a visual vibrancy that does complete justice to Maya Angelo's story.

Reflections: I love this book because it really stands out as a introductary book to South African life. The visual pleasure one derives from it is a motivator on its own and the written words of Maya Angelo really top off its attractiveness. I really feel as though this book has the potential to intrigue every child in a classroom. Instead of values and struggles and the like being presented fact by fact, it is presented through the story of a young girl, someone who is relatable to students. Not only is it very accessible and knowledgeable, but it also allows for a discussion of "what is culture?" and "what is respect?" Which are a nice lead into ideas of social justice and social change.

Elements of Social Justice: 1) Self-love and Acceptance: Seeing the importance and pride Thandi has for her culture, students will learn to name and understand their own values within their culture. 2) Respect for Others: Students will learn that different cultures value different things, although there is room for similarities. 3) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students will begin to explore their classmates' and teachers' cultures as well as others in the school community through the lens of values just as in the story. 4) Social Movements and Social Change: Students will learn about how they can take part in social change around their community and perhaps an African community. 5) Taking Social Change: Students will decide how they would like to take part in social change in either their community or an African community.

Rules

2008-02-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

Title: Rules

Author: Cynthia Lord

Publisher: Scholastic

Summary: Catherine is a 12 year old girl who wants to have a normal life, but it is impossible when her brother David has Autism and her family revolves around his disability. She spends years trying to teach David rules in order to wear off his embarrassing behaviors. During the summer Catherine meets Jason who has cerebral palsy, a boy different than any other boys she met before. Her own behaviors force her to question what is normal?

Reflection: I bought this book because I was interested in seeing how the author was going to portray Autism in a book for children. The books was humorous, entertaining and sensitive. I enjoyed how the author embedded a serious issue with the everyday lives and events of Catherine, a young child like many.

How would I use the book: I would definitely use the book as a read aloud over a period of days and examine the issue of acceptance. I would highlight the disabilities that are mentioned in the story, Autism and Cerebral Palsy and make sure that students are aware that their peers can face these disabilities, but not to treat them any differently. This book is more for the upper elementary grades. I would form literacy circles and provide various questions to enhance knowldege and enjoyment of the book. As actitivities I would have students create some of the things mentioned in the story done by David or Jason. The students can construct their own and have a sense of what it might feel like to have one of those disabilities.

Domains of Social Justice: 1) Self Love and Acceptance: Students learn to love themselves for who they are. 2) Respect for Others: Students learn to appreciate those who are different from them in any way. 3) Social Movements and Social Change: Students learn that they can help students with these disabilities by becoming friends with them and protecting them from anyone that wishes to harm them. 4) Social Action: Students learn that they can become advocates for their disabled peers and teach the entire school about the disabilities or any others present in the school by any means.

Go Figure

2008-02-05T20:24:00.000-08:00

Title: Go Figure

Author: Jo Edwards

Summary: Go Figure reads like a journal of a girl named Ryan who struggles with her weight. She fluctuates from being comfortable with her body to using her reflections for her therapist to rate how much of an imact her weight has had on her failed relationships with boyfriends, friends and family members. Her closest friendships seem to be full of weight and body type comparisons and secrets about what size clothes she wears and her love for baggy pants and oversized shirts. Ryan's ex-boyfriend is an up-and-coming musician and she's thrilled when she finds out that he's written a song inspired by her, and after telling everyone in her social circle about it, she hears it for the first time and is crushed to discover that it's very hurtful, although it wasn't written in an aggressive way. Ryan begins paying serious attention to her weight and it becomes even more of the focus of her day to day life.

Reflections: Go Figure is written in a very sincere, honest voice. A teacher who decides to use this book or parts of it in an elementary classroom certainly has her work cut out for her, but I feel that it is worth the effort. Many aspects of the storyline and the language used as the story builds are quite mature and take place once Ryan is in high school, but the prologue takes place when she is in fifth grade at cheerleading camp, and the story continues on as she grows older, showing the lasting, painful effects of hateful words and how they can alter a person for their entire life. Body image is a serious topic that needs to be addressed in classrooms, and clearly it starts young and continues to get worse as we get older and progress through the rest of our schooling.

How would I use the book/curricular units: I would use the prologue to this book [available on the amazon.com page, see "links" below] and a brief overview/selective retelling of the rest of the story with a 4th or 5th grade class. Different sources have different opinions on the appropriate grade levels for this book, ranging from sixth to twelvth grade, but I think that it would be a little bit too provacotive for fourth and fifth graders in its entirety, aside from the challenging vocabulary we come across from time to time. The prologue could be used either as a shared reading text, a read-aloud or as an independent reading piece. I would introduce the piece to my class by telling them that I was reading a book over the weekend and found something that I wanted to share with them, because I felt that we could all relate to it in one way or another, no matter how old we are or where we go to school. I think that the piece is powerful, and will leave quite an impression if its used as a read-aloud with the whole class or with a small group, or if the students read it on their own for homework and then we discuss it as a whole class the next morning, highlighting important parts of the text. Which method I used would depend on that particular class and the climate within the classroom. With reference to the TC aspects of Literacy Education, Ryan and Sadie & the others who teased her at cheerleading camp are both suitable candidates for a Character study. I would ask students to think about how Ryan felt when she heard those things about herself, and we would discuss how she reacted (she chose to quit cheerleading and "stopped caring" about what she ate and what her body looked like). Then I would ask students to think about what they would do if they were in Ryan's position, and how they could have helped Ryan if she was in their class. Overall, my goal with this text would be to make my students much more aware of how they speak to each other and what effects words can have on us.

Domains of Social Justice:
1. Domain of self love and acceptance & 2. Respect for Others: After working with this text and seeing how hard it can be to be spoken to out of hate, students will work towards making their classmates feel better about themselves rather than worse and in turn, will begin to hear more positive comments about themselves, building up their own self-image.

3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice & 4. Social Movement and Social Change: Students could look into professions and other aspects of life where people are discriminated against based on their appearance. Students can become active observers in their own school, making note of put-downs they overhear and thinking of ways they can make others feel better rather than feel worse.

5. Taking Social Action: Students can work to form a system within the classroom and within the school where students can use compliments as currency for things like in school celebrations and going on class trips to further build community. Both the person giving the compliment and the person deserving it would gain a point. Students can lose points for putting down their classmates. This is just one example of a way that the overall atmosphere of the classroom and the school could be changed, and in this way, the older grades in an elementary school would be establishing the system of change and positive reinforcement for the entire school.

Internet Links:
Book for sale on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Go-Figure-Jo-Edwards/dp/1416924922/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202272051&sr=8-2
[The prologue that I mentioned using as the main text with students is available on the amazon page, so even without the book, teachers can use that part of the text with their classes!]

Elena's Serenade

2008-02-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

Title: Elena's Serenade
Author: Campbell Geeslin
Illustrator: Ana Juan

Summary: This beautifully illustrated story is about a little Mexican girl who goes to prove to her father and herself that she can be a glassblower like him too. However, he doesn't think that she can do it because she is too little and she is a girl. So she disguises as a boy and sets out on a journey to find the great glassblowers in Monterrey. Along the way, she meets a burro who was lost, a roadrunner who can't run fast, and a coyote who sings horribly. She helps them gain confidence and they help her get to Monterrey. At her arrival, she is mocked at first but later amazed the glassblowers by using her pipe to make music and glass stars. She then makes a glass bird to fly home and shows her father that she really can do it.

Reflection: This book was an automatic inspiration to me because it has the important theme of "I can do it if I try." Even though her father didn't believe her, she set herself at a risky position and went far away just to prove herself. I loved the colorful crayon illustrations and the facial expressions on the characters' faces. I also liked how it was a dual-language book because there were many terms that were said in Spanish [they were defined at the beginning of the book].

How I would use this book: This story leads to meaningful conversations about topics such as confidence, determination, and believing in oneself. It can be integrated into social studies, Spanish, word study [many thematic terms can be zoomed in on], art, music, and role-playing. For example, the girl had discovered that she was able to make beautiful music with her pipe and it led to her surprise that she can also blow beautiful glass stars. Students can discover a talent that they have and use it to inspire others to gain confidence and teach one another. For a dual-language class, students can learn the meanings of the words in Spanish and use it in their writing. Artistically, they can use guided imagery to make their own representations of the story. I think this book can also help a lot with teaching students about another culture.

Domains of Social Justice Education: 1. Self-love and acceptance: The little girl clearly shows that even though she is told that she is a girl and is too little to be a glassblower, she is determined to prove that she is wrong, even though she has never done it before. She accepts herself for who she is and embraces her culture. 2. Respect for Others: When encountering the animals who face struggles and humiliation, the girl does not laugh but instead uses what she knows and loves to help each one. 3. Exploring Issues of Social justice: This book explores general roles or sexism and physical attributes. 5. Taking Social Action: Elena definitely creates change by proving to her father that she indeed can be a glassblower and that she turns out to be a great one. The other characters think she is superb too, only they do not know that she was a boy in disguise.

Links:
http://www.amazon.com/Serenade-Americas-Childrens-Literature-Commended/dp/0689849087
Possible Activities [scroll down]

Yoko

2008-02-05T18:58:00.000-08:00

title: Yoko
author: Rosemary Wells
Summary: Yoko by Rosemary Wells is a book about how a cat teaches her classmate about acceptance and respect while she gains self love herself. Yoko, a young Japanese cat, loves sushi and insists that her mother sends her with it for lunch. When she gets to school and lunch finally arrives some students have franks and beans, cheese spread sandwiches, and spaghetti. All her classmates make fun of Yoko because of her sushi and her teacher calls for a cultural food day so that the students may learn to accept one another. For this day Yoko brought in sushi and red bean ice cream but no one ate her food. When the party was over Timothy, another student was still hungry and eats a piece of Yoko’s sushi.
Timothy loves the sushi and Yoko is very happy that her classmate has finally accepted her and the food of her culture. The following day Timothy and Yoko decide to have lunch together and have dragon rolls and brownies. In the end, Timothy, along with young readers, have to confront the issue of how one is socially just and respectful and the struggle that people must endure to cause social change. Also, in the book, students see how Yoko learns that you have to have self love for yourself and your culture.
Reflections: This book is a wonderful piece of literature to use with both first and second graders that presents heavy topics in a way that is understandable and not scary. It helps students to see that they must respect, accept, and appreciate the culture and traditions of all cultures. It shows that Yoko must struggle to create a social change in her classroom, which is a issue of social justice that students will have to one day explore in their own lives. In seeing that Timothy tries and likes Yoko’s sushi, students are able to see that he has respect and acceptance for the traditions of Yoko’s culture and is willing to take social action by having sushi with her the following day.
How would I use the book/curriculum units: The grade level in which Yoko targets in approximately first and second grade. Therefore the book could be used first in a broad discussion about treating others fairly. It could then filter into lessons about respecting and appreciating people who have different cultural traditions, in which student learn about all the cultures represented in their own classroom. The teacher could take all this information and write it on a piece of chart paper with all different colors and then it could be compared to a piece of chart paper with a few pieces of the same colored information. The students could then discuss why it is better and why it looks more pleasing to have all these different cultural characteristics that represent their class. After they have stated why they feel it is better to have many cultures represented in the class the students could explain why this discussion was an example of respect and acceptance for others.
In learning all this, as a class, the students could then be divided into pairs and in the pairs they would interview each other about their cultures. Students could then present what they have learned about their partner as well as create collages that represent that person (using cultural information that they had learned). Each student could also go home and speak to their parents about how their culture has been treated poorly and how these issues were explored and tackled with social movements. After students have learned this information then the teacher could have students share this information as long as it is not too overwhelming. A discussion could follow in which students would talk about what they would do in that situation, how they would show respect and acceptance, what they would do to explore this issue, and how they would try to change it.
Domains of Social Justice: 1) Domains of self-love and acceptance: Through Yoko students learn to have self love for who they are and the culture they are, as Yoko had to do. They see how Yoko finally creates self love and acceptance when she is proud of her culture and eats sushi proudly. 2) Respect for others: In this book students are shown how one cold be disrespectful as well as respect to another person in regards to their culture. Students are given the ability to see how disrespect makes someone feel and then see how this disrespect could change to respect and why it is better to have the latter situation. 3)Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students will be able to explore racism but in an age appropriate manner. Being that many issues of social justice are overwhelming and evoke strong emotions, students can not go into such issues deeply in first and second grade. However students can learn about social justice and how one sees this by looking at Timothy’s role in the book. 4) Social Movements and Social Change: This book allows students to see how they could take steps to find out about and respect another person’s culture as well as help in making other people respect that culture. 5) Taking Social Action: In this book students learn that they could take social action such as Timothy did when he disregarded what his peers thought and accepted Yoko and her culture (by eating sushi with her). The book also sets the background for discussions about how Timothy could have taken more social action such as working with Yoko to teach other classes about Japanese culture.

Ken Mochizuki's Baseball Saved Us

2008-02-05T18:55:00.000-08:00

Baseball Saved Us
Written by Ken Mochizuki
Illustrated by Dom Lee

Summary: "Baseball Saved Us" illustrates the confinement of the Japanese Americans and immigrants in internment camps during World War II in the United States. This is a part of history that has been played down until the more recent decades. Through a young Japanese boy's eyes, we are able to witness not only the scenes behind barbed-wire fences but also witness the boy’s hope and dreams come forth through the game of baseball.

Reflection: I believe that this book adequately displayed the injustices and humiliation that a group of people had undergone in the United States but also at the same time expressed a hopeful and encouraging story. I can still see some prejudices and stereotypes that could come out of this book but it seemed fairly sufficient in expressing its purpose and exposing children and parents to different aspects of history and of life.

How would I use this book/curriculum units: As I mentioned earlier, it is a part of history that has been downplayed and may only express a piece of how injustice is capable of being repeated in various forms throughout history, and open minds to its existence in current times, unless there is a form of change and action that is taken. This book can be used to explore such topics as immigration, injustice, human rights, racism, suffering, cultural diversity, and isolation. Students can attempt to identify with the boy and his experiences. All of these explorations – through history and baseball – can be used, related to, and adapted for a variety of lessons and activities. Students can also be involved in sharing about their research and study on this part of history and move on to emphasize similar existing situations in the present world.

Domains of Social Justice:
1)Self Love and Acceptance: Students will be able to empathize with the young boy through personal or other experiences and seek how it is possible to be hopeful and encouraged by their passion and interests.
2)Respect for others: Students will be able to explore a culture and learn to see beyond the physical and exteriors of people and situations.
3)Exploring Issues of Social Justice: immigration, injustice, human rights, racism, suffering, cultural diversity
4)Social Movements & Social Change: Students can learn about and more deeply explore the current injustices and sufferings in history and current world (its causes, its effects, etc.) and also the issue of human rights and racism.
5)Taking Social Action: Students can act by showing their community and the world of the injustices and racism that exists right now through various means.

The Magic Tree

2008-02-05T18:06:00.000-08:00

Title: The Magic Tree: A Folktale from Nigeria

Author: T. Obinkaram Echewa Illustrated by E. B. Lewis

Summary:
Mbi is an orphan boy who lives in a Nigerian village with many unkind relatives. When there is work to do, everyone calls his name. But when it's time to eat, all Mbi gets are scraps and bones to chew. Then one day, while everyone else is eating dinner and Mbi is sitting under an udara tree near the compound, a magical fruit falls from the tree. When he plants a seed from the fruit, a huge udara tree suddenly grows just for Mbi. Now he will never go hungry.

But when the meanest boy in the village tries to steal some of the fruit, Mbi makes the tree grow taller and taller, until its branches-with the boy on top of them-are lost in the clouds. Once the villagers understand that the tree will respond only to Mbi, he earns their respect and love. In the end, Mbi teaches all the villagers a lesson they'll never forget. In the final picture, Mbi is smiling and strong, dressed in a beautiful robe with gift coins pasted on his forehead.

Reflections: I enjoyed reading this book because at the end it gives a meaningful validity to the proverb “it takes a village to raise a child.” The author shares the perspective of orphan child who faces many adversities, such as dealing with work, loneliness, and hunger. In many Nigerian societies, orphans are sent to live with family members since there are few institutions for parentless children. I empathized with the character in the story since he was always willing to help anyone who needed his services, but they all forgot about him when he needed theirs. Although Mbi begins the story with no family or friends, in the end he is taken in by the entire village as their child and member of the community because the people see his noble and giving heart with the actions he constantly makes. The watercolor illustrations are really quite spectacular.

How would I use the book/curricular units: I would use the book as a read aloud to discover the meaning of unfamiliar Nigerian words using illustrations, patterns in the text, and surrounding sentences. Furthermore, this would be a great resource when discussing different cultures, especially when dealing with respect for others.

Domains of Social Justice:
1. Domain of self love and acceptance: Students learn how a community can give love and support to children who are impoverished.
2. Respect for Others: Students will learn the importance of appreciating people for their unpaid deeds and how to reciprocate their services when needed.
3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students learn what effects social economics status has on a culture
4. Social Movement and Social Change: Students will learn what methods in the past have worked to help countries, such as Nigeria to improve poverty in local areas.
5. Taking Social Action: Students will be encouraged to participate in efforts to volunteer their time, donate clothes, and being involved in a community social service program and serve as buddies to other children.

Internet Sites:
http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Tree-Folktale-Nigeria/dp/0688162312
Place where you order the book at a cheap price.

http://www.coe.ohio-state.edu/mmerryfield/global_resources/modules/AfLiterature.htm
Contains a list of other African web/literature resource books and videotapes that can be viewed related to discuss Nigerian community.

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

2008-02-05T17:54:00.000-08:00

Summary: A homeless boy who lives in an airport with his father, moving from terminal to terminal trying not to be noticed, is given hope when a trapped bird finally finds its freedom.

This book tackles the issue of homelessness and brings the reader to feel emotionally attached when the little boy asks why other people get to live in homes? What makes them so special?

Available for purchase new or used:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780395664155&z=y

What drew me to this book was the idea of the lack of justice that a young boy realizes at such a young age. So many children may not be confronted by the issue of homelessness, or it may remain an issue to which they are unattached. The reality is that there are many children who live with homelessness everyday and as teachers we must be sensitive and aware of this. This book enlightens children's minds by introducing a basic idea of one issue of social justice.

Activities:

1) Rereading the book to examine what the people in this book value and how their values compare with those of the children in your class is a worthwhile activity. These people may be homeless but they are not valueless. Help the children see how they are coping with this difficult situation without hurting anybody. They have not turned to crime in order to get a place to live. The father goes off to a part time job. They are constantly looking for a way out: an apartment they can afford, better paying work. They are staying clean, washing up with full flights of people in the washrooms. The boy's father is insisting that, when it comes time, the boy will go to school even though he's not sure how he will manage it. There is compassion toward others in the book and real friendships between some of the homeless.

2) With older grades, kids can conduct research about ways that the homeless family living in the airport isn't getting help. What about welfare, etc... the students can find out what is available in their community to help with this issue and possibly write letters for change if they feel a need.

3) Organize some kind of event to act on this issue. Encourage the students to create a project, either to be ongoing throughout the year, or on a regular basis, like a food drive, food drop offs, clothing drives, mid runs, etc...

Stages of Social Justice Education

Self love and acceptance: The book introduces a child who lives a different type of life than your students might.

Respect for others: Having a discussion with students about being sensitive to many different life styles, with regard to class, race, sex, etc...

Exploring isssues of social justice: Introducing homelessness as a social issue that needs to be addressed.

Social movements and social change: Students doing research about the services available for the homeless in their city or neighborhood.

Taking social action: Students organizing drives and other iniatives for their community to help with the issue of homelessness in their communities.

The Other Side by Jaqueline Woodson

2008-02-05T16:56:00.000-08:00

Summary: The Other Side by Jaqueline Woodson is an inspiring story of two young girls from different walks of life. Clover is a young African American girl who has always wondered why her town is divided into two sections, a black section and a white section, by a large fence. Clover’s mother always warned her never to cross the fence because it “wasn’t safe.” However, one summer Clover noticed that a young Caucasian girl in a pink sweater would climb up on the fence and sit there all alone. As time went on Clover became more and more curious about this girl and why she sat on the fence. One day she walked up to the fence and the girl asked what her name was. The girls spoke and Clover discovered that Annie Paul lived on the other side of the fence and that her mom told her not to go over the fence just as Clover’s mother had told her. As the summer wore on Clover and Annie Paul got to know each other better, spent a lot of time sitting together on the fence, and wished that someday someone would knock it down.

Reflections: I really enjoyed reading this book and think that it is an excellent resource to be used in all classrooms. This book displays the issue of segregation, the ways in which racist ideals become engrained in children from their parents, as well as how the next generation can make the choice to go against the grain, challenge the beliefs and fears of their parents and elders, and find out about others for themselves. I really loved the fact that within this text we saw two different girls who were brought up to have certain feelings about one another challenge those beliefs and reach out to each other in an effort to not only learn more but to create a bridge between two peoples who were so clearly divided. Rarely do we see a text in which a child takes the power into their own hands so to speak and decides to be responsible for their own beliefs by investigating “the other,” challenging the status quo, and finding that their efforts have led them to discover that challenging authority can be a wonderful thing!

How I would use this book/curricular units: This text would be great to discuss the Civil Rights Movement and segregation, what they were, how they began, and how they ended. In addition, this book could be used to discuss racism and classism and issues related to both. The students can talk about instances of racism and/or classism that they have experienced and how that made them feel in addition to how they would have preferred the other person reacted to them. The teacher can also create an activity to demonstrate segregation, racism, or classism by dividing the class into two groups based on a random trait, treating each side differently, and stating that students on one side were not to talk to, play with, look at, or share materials with the students on the other side of the class. The teacher could then use this experience as a reference point for discussion in which the students share how they feel and compare and contrast their experience to the experiences of Clover and Annie Paul in the text. Finally, this book can be used to discuss social justice and they ways in which social justice is reached through challenging certain ideas and standing up for what you believe in at any age.

Elements of Social Justice Education: 1) Self-love and Acceptance: Students will learn to love themselves for who they are and where they come from. They will see in the text how Clover and Annie Paul loved themselves for who they were and where they came from and accepted each other even though it was not the “popular” thing to do. 2) Respect for Others: Students will learn to investigate other people and cultures and appreciate them for what they are just as Clover and Annie Paul did for each other in this book. 3) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students will discuss and learn more about racism and classism and their effects on all people. 4) Social Movements and Social Change: Students will learn about how people work for social change just as Clover and Annie Paul did in this text by sitting on the fence together and playing with one another. 5) Taking Social Change: Students will learn how to take action and create social change on their own just as Clover and Annie Paul did in the text.

Links:
 http://www.amazon.com/Other-Side-Jacqueline-Woodson/dp/0399231161/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201747778&sr=8-1
 http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780399231162&itm=1
 https://www.hotbooksale.com/store/productView.aspx?idProduct=15165&ec=1&ProdId=62&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=cpc
 http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780399231162,00.html

Zen Ties- Jon J Muth

2008-02-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

Summary:

Zen Ties is about Stillwater the Panda who's nephew Koo visits for the summer. During Koo's stay with his uncle, he learns many valuable lessons. For instance, when they stopped in the park for tea, Stillwater did not want to throw away the empty cups. Instead, he told Koo they would use the same cups everyday to save them.
Stillwater also introduces Koo to his friends Addy, Michael, and Karl who get along very well with Koo. At one point in the story Michael expresses to Stillwater that he is nervous about his spelling bee, but Stillwater encourages Michael to do his best and not to worry because doing your best is what you're supposed to do. Seeing that Michael still appears to be nervous, Stillwater decides to do something about it. He introduces Addy, Michael, Karl and Koo to Miss Whitaker, a friend of Stillwater's. At first Addy, Michael and Karl are hesitant because they are scared of Miss Whitaker; however, Stillwater explains that Miss Whitaker isn't feeling well and that they must bring her something to eat.
When the five of them bring some soup over to Miss Whitaker, she shouts at Stillwater for bringing the children. Stillwater however, remains positive and cheery and comes inside as the children follow behind. While Stillwater helps Miss Whitaker with the soup, the children clean up Miss Whitaker's house. They even draw pictures for Miss Whitaker. The next morning Stillwater goes back to Miss Whitaker's house where he informs Miss. Whitaker that Michael is participating in a spelling bee. Surprisingly Miss Whitaker turns out to be a fantastic spelling coach and helps Michael out. Michael ends up winning the spelling bee, and the story closes with all of them sharing Michael's win at Miss Whitaker's house.

Reaction/ How I Would Use this Book:

I thought this book was wonderful on two parts. In the beginning Stillwater tells Koo that they will not be throwing away the cups because he did not want to waste it. I feel like this is a great way to teach students how we should learn to conserve certain things and try not to waste, if we can help it. You can definitely stem a lesson integrating Science into it, i.e. talk about recycling. Even though the message it was sending wasn't the overarching theme in the story, I still felt it was an important theme to touch on. At the same time I felt this message could also be viewed in through a Social Studies lens, looking at the generational ties between Stillwater and Koo, why was Stillwater so keen on saving the cup?
The overarching message I felt this book was trying to convey was the importance of friendship and the ties we have to one another. Even though Miss Whitaker was resistance at first, Stillwater and the children did not give, only to realize that Michael and Miss Whitaker were able to connect on another level. Zen Ties also portrays giving back and helping others, whether it be a neighbor or a friend or doing something simple such conserving. It teaches students not to give up and have patience, even if something may appear to be resistant at first. I strongly believe this is an important theme that can be discussed in all classrooms, across all grades. It would be a great resource to use when talking about creating a community within the classroom and look at differences students have. It's also a wonderful way for students to connect with their community, and think of ways to help others.

Elements of Social Justice: 1) Self-love and Acceptance- Just like there is a generational tie between Stillwater and Koo, student's will learn to understand what connects them to their heritage and their family, and accept their own unique qualities. 2) Respect for others: Student's will learn that other cultures and community value different things. For instance, Stillwater did not want to throw out the cups because he did not want to waste them. Koo at first did not understand why, but after his Stillwater explained why he did not want to throw them away, he was able to see through his uncle's eyes. 3) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: student's will investigate the different cultures in the classroom and their community and look at what is thought to be valuable. In addition, students will explore the different aspects of ageism and how the community responds to it. 4) Social Movements and Social Change: students will learn about how they can give back to the community and provide opportunities for those who are unable to assist themselves. 5) Taking Social Change: Student's will participate in a community organized event that will allow them to contribute a talent they may have, and share it with someone, i.e. going to a nursing home and reading a story.

Suki's Kimono

2008-02-05T14:55:00.000-08:00

Summary: Suki’s Kimono is about a first-grade girl determined to wear a kimono on her first day of school. Her sisters warn her that it is not “cool”, but she doesn’t care. The kimono reminds her of the summer she spent with her grandmother and the street fair she attended that celebrated Japanese culture. No matter who snickers at her clothing, she stands proud. Suki’s teacher asks the class to share stories about their summer vacations. Suki describes her time with her grandmother. The best part of the festival was the dancing, which she demonstrates for the class. The entire class claps and celebrates her dancing skills. Suki dances the whole way home proud of her achievements for the day.

Reflections:This book has beautiful illustrations and is just very enjoyable to read. Suki takes pride in her culture and beliefs. She is only a first-grader, yet is able to ignore others in order to be true to herself and what she really loves. It shows a willingness from others to accept, appreciate, and learn from classmates' cultures and ways of dress. But beyond cultural appreciation, it illustrates self-acceptance, something difficult for children and adults alike. Suki is unwavering in her faith in herself and her culture. She is not embarrassed of her kimono and dancing like her sisters, but proudly displays it and shares it with others.

How I Would Use the Book: This book lends itself extremely well to discussing many cultures within a classroom. Children could easily discuss and inquire about their own cultures and share this knowledge with their classmates. A teacher could use this book during a unit about cultures and traditions, or social norms and mores.
Besides cultures, this book is excellent for teaching children about self-pride and respect, or even feeling different. It can help children embraces differences and be proud of who they are today and the background of their families. The children could explore one unique thing about themselves or their families and become an expert on it and present it to the entire class.

Domains of Social Justice: 1. Self-Love and Acceptance: Clearly Suki displays this from the beginning to the end of the story. 2. Respect for Others: Suki earns the respect of her classmates once they understand her reason for wearing the kimono and watch her dance performance. 4. Social Movements and Social Change: Hopefully after reading this story, children will take an active role in understanding and appreciating the differing cultures of the classmates and neighbors. They will begin to seek out opportunities to further explore people who are different from themselves.

http://www.amazon.com/Sukis-Kimono-Chieri-Uegaki/dp/1553377524/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202251827&sr=8-1

Oliver Button Is A Sissy

2008-02-05T14:15:00.000-08:00

Summary: Oliver Button Is A Sissy is a book about a boy named Oliver whose interests are completely different from the other boys in his class. Instead of playing sports like the other boys, Oliver enjoys jump roping, playing with dolls, and especially singing and dancing. When Oliver’s parents realize how much he loves to dance, they decide to send him to dancing school. Everything seems great until the other students in the class find out about Oliver’s love of dancing. They constantly tease him and call him a “sissy.” Despite the teasing, Oliver continues practicing and even enters a talent show. Oliver’s teacher encourages the students to attend the show and they all show up to watch. In the end, Oliver does not win first place, but he impresses his fellow classmates and gains their respect. He was no longer a “sissy;” instead he was a “star.”

Reflection: This book brings up the subject of gender stereotypes and the pressure that society places on conforming to these stereotypes. What’s great about this book is that it presents readers with a strong character who is able to overcome the negativity associated with not conforming to gender stereotypes. It gives readers the message that it is okay to be different and that they should pursue their interests regardless of what other people may say about these interests. In this book, Oliver Button continues to do what he loves to do—dance—even though he is often teased about it.

How I Would Use This Book/Curriculum Units: This book can be a part of the community-building process at the start of the school year. As students learn about each other and their interests, they are also learning that it is acceptable to be different from each other, since differences add to the uniqueness of every individual. Moreover, students learn that it is acceptable to be different in the sense that they can pursue any interests even if others say it is inappropriate for their gender. Additionally, this book can also be used for an author study on Tomie dePaolo. Students can compare different Tomie dePaolo books and develop their inferencing skills by coming up with conclusions about Tomie dePaolo’s writing style and/or his personality as a child, as Tomie dePaolo’s books are often about past events in his life.

Domains of Social Justice:

1) Self-Love and Acceptance: Students learn to accept themselves the way they are, which also includes accepting the interests they have and pursuing them, even if their interests are contrary to what is perceived as appropriate for their gender.

2) Respect for Others: Students learn about each other’s interests which may end up being different from theirs. Despite these differences, students should still learn to accept others for the way they are.

3) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students will learn about the issue of gender stereotypes and whether they accurately represent people.

5) Taking Social Action: Students will make active efforts to get to know other students and also participate in helping others look beyond gender stereotypes.

How Many Days to America? A Thanksgiving Story

2008-02-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/How-Many-Days-America-Thanksgiving/dp/0395547776/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202230961&sr=8-1

By: Eve Bunting Illustrated by: Beth Peck

SUMMARY: This story follows a boy and his family on a journey from the Caribbean to America. Soldiers had entered the town and people from the town were forced to leave and find safety in America. The family leaves all of their possessions in their home and secretly board a boat. The boat travels for several days while coming across many obstacles in the ocean such as bad weather and thieves. Eventually the boat makes it to America on Thanksgiving day.

I liked this book because it gave a different/modern perspective of immigration and the meaning of Thanksgiving. This book portrays some of the current realities and hardships people from other countries are faced with. I also liked this book because I have not seen many books that focus on issues regarding people from the Caribbean.

HOW WOULD I USE THIS BOOK/CURRICULUM UNITS: I would use this book for a discussion about immigration/ the multiple meanings for Thanksgiving/ why people immigrate. Students can also compare and contrast this immigration story to that of the Pilgrims or any other immigration story. Another way to use this book would be for the students to imagine themselves in a similar situation of being forced to leave their home to express their feelings and reactions. I would also use this book to explain what refugees are. This book could also be used for social studies in regards democracy, freedom and human rights since these were the reasons the characters in the story chose to come to America. I would also tie in geography by having students chart the journey of the boat on a map.

DOMAINS OF SOCIAL JUSTICE: 1) Self love and acceptance- Students learn about and acknowledge the obstacles that the Caribbean people overcame. 2) Respect for others- Students learn about different forms of oppression and how people from other cultures escape oppression. 3) Exploring Issues of Social Justice- oppression, democracy 4) Social MOvements & Social Change- Students learn why and how people immigrate 5) Taking Social Action- Students learn about current immigration policies and measures people take to immigrate to America

Chrysanthemum

2008-02-05T07:36:00.000-08:00

Crysanthemum

By Kevin Henkes

Link to where you can purchase book:

http://www.amazon.com/Chrysanthemum-Big-Book-Kevin-Henkes/dp/0061119741/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202225168&sr=8-1

Summary:

Chrysanthemum loves her name — until she starts kindergarten, which is an unfamiliar world full of short names like Sue, Bill, Max, Sam, and Joe. But it's Victoria who really makes Chrysanthemum wilt, offering that she was named after her grandmother, which is much more important than being named after a flower. Not only that, but who has ever heard of a name 13 letters long? "That's half the letters in the alphabet!" Victoria points out indignantly. Though Chrysanthemum's parents try to soothe her wounded soul with "hugs, kisses, and Parcheesi," it's not easy to find solace (and regain lost self-esteem) with all the girls on the playground threatening to "pluck" and "smell" you. Then the children meet their music teacher, charismatic Mrs. Twinkle. Mrs. Delphinium Twinkle, that is. When Mrs. Twinkle announces that she wants to name her baby the prettiest name she has ever heard, and that that name is Chrysanthemum, all the kids wish they had flower names, too. For her part, Chrysanthemum blooms once again. In this award-winning picture book, favorite author/illustrator Henkes once again demonstrates his talent for capturing the difficult dramas of childhood in simple text and cartoon-like illustrations. His mouse characters — depicted in energetic pen-and-ink and watercolor pictures — have all the depth and dimension of real kids (and parents). Especially appropriate for any child with a difficult or unusual name, this perceptive picture book will charm a wider audience with its wit and wisdom.Reflection:

This was a great book because ti shows how people can appreciate and learn to appreciate their names, how they got their names, the uniqueness of names, and the history of their names. It also teaches people to accept others for not being exactly like them.

Book Use/Activities/Curricular Units:

This book lends itself easily into discussion about how you got your name, why you were named that, if you were named after someone and the importance of you name. You could also integrate this into math and count the number of letters in your name. You could create art projects around your name as well.

Websites:

http://content.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?id=429&FullBreadCrumb=%3Ca+href%3D%22%2Fbrowse%2Fsearch.jsp%3Fquery%3Dchrysanthemum%26c1%3DCONTENT30%26c17%3D0%26c2%3Dfalse%22%3EAll+Results+%3C%2Fa%3E

http://content.scholastic.com/browse/book.jsp?id=171&FullBreadCrumb=%3Ca+href%3D%22%2Fbrowse%2Fsearch.jsp%3Fquery%3Dchrysanthemum%26c1%3DCONTENT30%26c17%3D0%26c2%3Dfalse%22%3EAll+Results+%3C%2Fa%3E

Domain of Social Justice Education:

1) Self Love and Acceptance- Chrysanthemum learns to love her name and appreciate her unique name.

2.) Respect for Others- Strengthens intercultural competence. The students in the class learn to appreciate Chrysanthemum's name and the other students soon wanted to have names like chrysanthemum.

5.) Taking Social Action- Students explore their own context and develop tools to work for change. The teacher tells students that she has a flower name also, soon the students want to take action and change their names to flower names and appreciatea Chrysanthemum unique name.

Grandfather's Journey

2008-02-04T19:10:00.000-08:00

title: Grandfather's Journey

Author: Allen Say

Illustrator: Allen Say

Link to book: http://www.amazon.com/Grandfathers-Journey-Caldecott-Medal-Book/dp/0395570352/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202182758&sr=8-1

Summary: The story is about a boy's grandfather and his journey from Japan to America. His grandfather loved America but missed his homeland of Japan. He returned to Japan to marry his first love. However, he begins to miss America and returns, where he and his wife raise their daughter. Grandfather begins to miss Japan once more and returns. When Say is born his favorite memories are those spent with his grandfather and hearing tales of California. When Say is old enough he travels to America and realizes why his father was so torn between which country he would like to call home. The illustrations are done in watercolors.

How would I use the book/curriculum units: This is a great story to teach children about history. This book is recommended for 3rd and 4th grade levels. This is a great book that can be integrated into a social studies curriculum such as immigration. This is a good book to use in the classroom especially considering the number of students who immigrate from other countries. This book depicts how a person could make a new home in another country yet still miss their old country.

Domains of Social Justice:1. Self love and acceptance: This book displays a character who is interested in his culture and wants to explore it more. We should love and accept ourselves for who we are and embrace our culture. 2. Respect for others: We learn through this book the importance to respect others and their cultures. When the character went from Japan to America their culture was respected. 3. Exploring issues of social justice: The book definitely opens doors to a discussion on immigration and the different people that compose NYC and our classroom. 4. Social movements and social change: The book depicts the story of a grandfather who is torn between is home country Japan and the new country America. This is a struggle that many people face.
5. Taking social action: The grandson feels closer to his father once he experiences the same emotions, being torn between two countries. This book can lead to a discussion on how to maintain your own culture in America.

My Name Is Yoon by Helen Recorvits

2008-02-04T10:06:00.000-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Name-Yoon-Keats-Illustrator-Award/dp/0374351147

Summary:
My Name Is Yoon is a moving story depicting a seven-year-old Korean girl’s difficult adjustment to her new life in America. With a name “Yoon” meaning “shining wisdom”, the main character thinks that her name looks much happier written in Korean than in English. She struggles to please her parents by learning an unfamiliar language while surrounded by strangers. Although her teacher encourages her to practice writing “Yoon”, the child substitutes other words for her name, words that better express her inner fears and hopes such as “cat” that can hide in a corner and cuddle with her mother, “bird” that can fly back to Korea, and finally, “cupcake” that is loved by her classmates. In fact, she yearns for gaining the acceptance of her peers. In the end, she realizes that she is actually accepted by people surrounded her. She comes to accept both her English name and her new American self, recognizing that however it is written, she is still Yoon.

Reflection:
This is a great book because it conveys to youngsters a positive message of respect and acceptance to different cultures and self-recognition and value. In a simple and straightforward way, it shows children how to accept and integrate others from different cultures that they might not have encountered before. In the meantime, Yoon’s story may relate to millions of immigrant children who tend to be overwhelmed and struggle in a completely new environment. Therefore, it can be helpful to have the youngsters learn an abstract concept of empathy at this point. Moreover, through showing Yoon’s bewilderment and sense of dislocation, the book may help the children to develop an awareness of their unique identities and appreciation of their own cultures as immigrants.

How would I use the book:
This book would be used in the beginning of a unit about Immigration in a second/third-grade classroom. I would first introduce the book through read aloud and then have the class think aloud and discuss what they would do to appreciate and accept people from other cultures. Relating to students’ own lives, I would ask them to think if they have known somebody from other countries and share what it is like interacting with that particular person. If there are certain students with other cultural backgrounds, I would have them share their own cultures and traditions in class. In addition, carrying out a role-play activity in which students act out different characters in the book may be a good idea to reinforce the concepts.

Domains of Social Justice:

Domains of self-love and acceptance:
Students learn to love themselves for who they are. In this story, Yoon gets to accept her “new identity” as a Korean immigrant in America, and tries to involve herself in the classroom and community.

Respect for others:
Students learn to accept, respect, and love one another, and moreover, cultures and traditions of others. In this case, Yoon’s peers get to accept and love this new class member, and vice versa.

Social Movements and Social Change
Students may get to learn that most people tend to face barriers and difficulties when transitioning to a new life, and most of all, how to resolve the problem such as saying something nice to that person, helping out with homework, being a learning buddy, and etc.

Taking Social Action
Students learn to encourage and persuade people to accept other people from other cultures.

Freedom River by Doreen Rappaport

2008-02-03T21:03:00.000-08:00

Title: Freedom River
Author: Doreen Rappaport
Illustrator: Bryan Collier
Link to book: http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-River-Doreen-Rappaport/dp/1423106342/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202102219&sr=8-2

Summary: Freedom River is based on a true story about John Parker, an ex-slave, and his persistence and courage in repeatedly taking the dangerous journey of helping slaves escape. In this story, Parker helps Isaac, Sarah and their baby (a family of 3) escape from Master Shrofe. At his first attempt, they were caught and as a result, their baby had been taken away from them. Parker felt responsible for the baby's separation from her parents and was determined to help reunite them and set them free, despite their repeated rejection of him trying to help.

Reflection: When I read this book, I realized that so many different lessons can be created from reading this one book. Although the story line is relatively simple, this book is packed with meaningful concepts and ideas that teachers can use to teach in different subjects. The illustrations does a really great job conveying to the readers the emotions and feelings that John Parker and the slaves may be experiencing during time like that...the dark colors used during scenes of danger and enslavement, and light colors during scenes of freedom.

How I would use this book: As mentioned above, many lessons can be created from this book and can be integrated into different subjects. Following are some ideas:
Literacy: This book can be incorporated into the unit of character study, where students can analyze John Parker as a character. John Parker can be viewed in a variety of perspectives: in the eyes of slave owners, slaves, and ex-slaves (freed slaves). Students can be split up into groups where they will take role as one of these characters. This can also be an introduction to a unit on slavery and/or racism.
Math: Units of distance can be taught her, as well as addition and subtraction word problems. Maps of the Underground Railroad can be created and appropriate scales will be learned during this time.
Social Studies: Students can research more on who John Parker is and his life. Questions like: What caused him develop such courage and determination to help families escape?

Depending on the direction that the unit goes, different culminating projects can be designed:
-writing a story on how they helped someone and why; a time when they were treated unfairly and whether or not someone helped them; taking the role as John Parker (or other characters) and writing a diary about their journeys; pretending that they were students traveling back in time and can speak to the slave owners.

Domains of Social Justice:
Self Love and Acceptance: Students can talk about how Isaac and John are different because while Isaac, a slave, doesn't really have a voice of his own, John who is freed, does. This can link to students learning that it is important to accept themselves with their own identity and not as someone else's property. They should be proud of who they are.

Respect for others/Exploring issues of social justice: Although this book does not directly talk about this idea, discussion about how people do not respect others of a different race during the slavery time will spark the idea of respecting others while also exploring the idea of social justice.

Taking Social Action: Using their own voice and perspective, students will write letters to slave owners telling them why owning slaves is unfair and give suggestions as to what they can do instead. There will be a day when the class will "travel back in time" and read these letters to a slave owner (role played by teacher)

And Tango Makes Three

2008-02-03T19:29:00.000-08:00

Title: And Tango Makes Three
Author: Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Illustration: Henry Cole
Link to book: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780689878459&itm=1

Summary: Many different kinds of families go to the Central Park zoo in New York City. In the zoo, there are also many different kinds of animal families that live there, and among them, is the Tango family. Every year female penguins and male penguins start to notice each other and become a couple. But there are two penguins in the penguin house that are a little different. Roy and Silo are boys but they do everything together; They walk together, sing to each other, and swim together. One day, they notice that other penguins are able to do something they cannot do. The mama penguin lays and egg and the papa penguin takes turns keeping the egg warm until it hatches. The zookeeper who notices this, takes an egg that needs to be cared for and puts it in Roy and Silo’s nest. Soon tango is born and is the first one in the zoo to have two daddies! The children who come to the zoo can see Tango and her two fathers playing in the penguin house. At night, the three penguins return to their nest to snuggle and sleep just like all the other animals in the zoo.

Reflections: The fact that this book was based on an actual true event immediately drew me to this book. I felt that students would connect more to the story knowing that the event took place in the same city they live in. Even though the book is for younger children, it’s definitely delightful enough for an older audience as well. The illustrations in the book are done in beautiful soft watercolors.

How would I use the book/curriculum units: This is a great book that can be integrated into a social studies curriculum such as the family unit. It can be used as a springboard to introduce or discuss topics of homosexuality and educate children about different kinds of families. You can easily integrate science by doing studies/research on different animal species too.

Domains of Social Justice:

1. Self love and acceptance: This book sends the strong message to its readers that it is totally ok to be different and not necessarily follow the “norm” like in the case of Roy and Silo. We should love and accept ourselves for who we are.
2. Respect for others: We learn through this book the importance to respect others even if they are different from ourselves.
3. Exploring issues of social justice: The book definitely opens doors to a discussion on homosexuality and those that are being oppressed for this reason.
4. Social movements and social change: The book depicts the story of Roy and Silo who even though they diverge from the “norm” at the zoo, they prove to be just as loving and caring parents for Tango.

5. Taking social action: The zookeeper definitely takes action to create change when he gives Roy and Silo an egg to take care of. Mr. Gramzay’s faith in Roy and Silo gives them the opportunity to start a family just like all the other couples

A Rose for Abby

2008-02-03T17:22:00.000-08:00

A Rose for Abby
By Donna Guthrie

Link to where you can purchase book:
http://www.bestwebbuys.com/A_Rose_for_Abby-ISBN_9780687365869.html?isrc=b-search

Summary: A Rose for Abby is the story of a girl who, while looking out her window to the city streets below, pays witness to an older woman searching through trash cans and building a home on the sidewalk. When Abby asks her father about what she saw she finds that the old woman was homeless and had to find places to stay and things to keep her warm on the streets. Abby takes this new knowledge to heart and decides to take an old pair of gloves and hat from her house and leave them in a paper bag for the woman to find in the garbage across the street from Abby’s window. When she looks out the window to find the woman uncovering Abby’s planted treasures she sees how happy it made the woman. After this she thinks of how easy it would be for everyone from her neighborhood to give one thing to help the homeless people on the streets. With this realization Abby goes out on a quest to gather goods to put on a nice, hot soup dinner at her church.

Reflection: A Rose for Abby is really a very sweet story. It shows a positive image of a young girl that takes notice of what is happening around her and empathizes with characters outside of herself and her lifestyle. Abby then takes it upon herself to first make small changes in the life of the homeless woman on the street by giving her gloves to wear and then turn that into bigger actions where she involves her community in order to help more homeless people in her neighborhood. The story is simple yet holds a great idea about how one person can care for and help another in simple ways. Book Use/Activities/Curricular Units: This book lends itself easily into discussion about homelessness and its effects on those that are homeless and those that are also not homeless. It also allows for preliminary ideas about empathy for others to be generated. The book gives ideas as to how an individual can take small steps to make a difference in someone’s life and how they maybe able to involve the community around them to take similar action. The book could also stress the importance of working together in order to make something big happen.

Websites:

http://books.google.com/books?id=YJgkBZwUDDAC&pg=PA49&lpg=PA49&dq=%22a+rose+for+abby%22&source=web&ots=dp-BhsCIVR&sig=WakJWL4n5EeRhU3PES7-wuXp0ZI

Domain of Social Justice Education:
2.) Respect for Others- Strengthens intercultural competence. Abby notices a woman outside of her window that appears to be making a bed on the street
3.) Exploring Issues of Social Justice- Racism, Classism, Sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression are confronted. Abby seeks out information in order to learn about the homeless woman on the street and why she is there and is there are others like her.

4.) Social Movements and Social Change- Students learn how people have struggled for social change. Abby decides to help the woman on the street by leaving gloves and a hat in a decorated paper bag in order to help the homeless woman to keep warm.

5.) Taking Social Action- Students explore their own context and develop tools to work for change. Abby goes to her community and asks for their help so that she can put on a dinner for all of the homeless people in her neighborhood.

2008-02-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

The Bracelet
Written by Yoshiko Uchida
Illustrated by Joanna Yardley

Links to where you can buy the book: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780698113909&itm=3

Summary: A young girl named Emi and her family are sent to an internment camp for Japanese Americans. Emi is nervous and scared about leaving home, especially because she wants to make sure that she remembers her best friend named Laurie. Laurie gives Emi a bracelet to wear and always think of her when she sees it on her wrist. Emi promises Laurie that she will never take it off. When Emi and her family arrive at the camp, they are sent to their barrack and Emi realizes she has lost her bracelet. Upset and sad, she felt it was the only way to remember Laurie. When she and her family unpack, Emi remembers the sweaters she and Laurie wore for this first day of school. Emi then realizes she doesn’t need the bracelet to remember Laurie because she will always be in her heart.

Reflection: This was a great book because it shows how an innocent family deals with the hardships of the internment camps. This book depicts the struggles a family has to go through as they try to come to terms with what is happening. This story is real in that it illustrates a dark moment in American history and has an aspect that others can relate to, such as worrying about not remembering a friend. Rich illustrations accompany the text so the reader can truly see how hard it is on a family.

How I would use the book/ curriculum units: This book would fit well in social studies, especially in a unit of study on World War II. It would work with class discussions about past experiences and how we can work together to learn from them to be able to improve the past and future. The book would also work with a unit study on character, as students could write about the way Emi deals with the hardships and see if they would react the same way. The concept of empathy could be introduced as students could try to imagine how Emi feels and complete a writer’s workshop entry.

Links to lesson ideas:
http://www.teacherlink.usu.edu/tlresources/units/byrnes-famous/YOSHIL1.html

http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/TLresources/units/byrnes-literature/Dent/DENT.HTM

http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/TLresources/units/byrnes-literature/JONES.html

Domains of Social Justice:
1.) Self-Love and Acceptance- Children learn about their own culture. Emi continues to learn about her culture and that everyone is not as accepting as he or she should be.

2.) Respect for Others- Strengthens intercultural competence. Emi learns that she and her family were not respected as they should have been, since they were sent away and she tries to come to terms with this information.

3.) Exploring Issues of Social Justice- Racism, Classism, Sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression are confronted. Emi’s family is oppressed because they “look- like” the enemy and are forced to leave their home and are faced with both emotional and physical struggling.
4.) Social Movements and Social Change- Students learn how people have struggled for social change. Emi realizes that she and her family are not being treated well and that they must learn to make the best of their situation and work together. This will allow people to learn from the past so the same events do not happen again.
5.) Taking Social Action- Students explore their own context and develop tools to work for change. Emi learns that although she and her family were sent away, she will always remember her friends in her heart and will use her situation to learn about herself and others as they work together to deal with the hardships they face.

Tar Beach

2008-02-02T22:13:00.000-08:00

Title and Author: Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold

Link to where you can purchase book:
http://www.amazon.com/Tar-Beach-Faith-Ringgold/dp/0517885441/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201931374&sr=1-1

Summary: Tar Beach is the story of a young girl named Cassie Louise Lightfoot whose imagination and wishful thinking allow her to fly all over New York City and transcend boundaries (both economic and racial) that she normally wouldn't be able to. Her family often spends nights on the rooftop of their building, which is affectionately dubbed 'Tar Beach'. From Tar Beach, Cassie does her daydreaming, and " with stars and skyscraper buildings all around me, made me feel rich, like I owned all that I could see." At 8 years old, Cassie already has a deep sense of right and wrong and she uses her 'flying' to help her fix the problems in her life. For example, her dad is denied acceptance into the labor union because he is half-Black/half-Native American and so she flys over the union building and "buys" it for him. The book has an overall inspirational tone that permeates throughout the story. Through her imaginings, Cassie becomes empowered to go after what she wants and deserves and sees the beauty in the places around her.

Reflection: I really liked this story. Not only were the illustrations beautiful and rich in colors and prints, but the story evolved from being one about a little girl with an overactive imagination to one about a girl trying to make her world a better place for herself and her family. I would recommend this book to anyone, child and/or adult, because it raises several important issues about race and class but frames it from a child's perspective. Even though she is addressing these issues, they still have an innocence attached to them in that if you believe in something enough, maybe it will come true.

Book Use/Activities/Curricular Units: This book really lends itself to many different topics. It could be used during a unit on Families and/or Traditions because the book outlines a lot of activities that Cassie's family does together. Students can design their own quilts depicting their families' experiences. Faith Ringgold was inspired tremendously by her own family's history and their experiences with quiltmaking is evident in each page. The book also contains a few historical references such as the exclusion of Cassie's father from the labor union because of his racial background. This book could serve as just one example of many of the injustices committed against minorities in this country but on a much more personal level.

Websites:
Flying to Freedom: Tar Beach and The People Could Fly
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=32

Making Multicultural Connections Through Trade Books
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/socialstd/mbd/Tar_Beach1.html

Faith Ringgold's Official Website
http://www.faithringgold.com/

Art Lesson Plan: Tar Beach
http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/TarBeach.html

Domain of Social Justice Education: (1) Self-love and Acceptance: Students describe, analyze, and explore the different traditions in their lives and with their families and use that as a lens to understand Cassie.

(2) Respect for Others: Students learn elements of African-American folktales and of other methods of storytelling as well as learning about the experiences of groups of people different than themselves.

(3) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: The book introduces issues of racism and class and highlights how discrimination does not always happen in the most obvious ways but through everyday interactions.

The Jacket

2008-02-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

Title: The Jacket
Author: Andrew Clements
Age Range: 8-12

Summary: The Jacket is about a young boy named Phil who makes another boy (Daniel) for his brother because of the jacket he is wearing. Phil immediately accuses this boy of stealing the coat. Daniel is black and Phil’s realization of his reaction to the situation may have to do with Daniel’s race. Phil grapples with the meaning of being prejudiced as well as issues and the interplay of friendship, race, and even class. Phil eventually travels to Daniel’s home in attempt to rectify the situation. The book ends with the boys beginning to understand the similarities that they share.

Reflections: This book was used in a grades 3-4 general education class at my student teaching placement. The book was used as a Read Aloud with Accountable Talk dispersed throughout the novel. The children seemed to respond well to the story voicing their various opinions. I was surprised by the straightforward writing (mostly Phil’s thoughts) regarding race, especially discussing the tensions between “black” and “white.” The book didn’t downplay or sugarcoat this topic and the straightforward writing/thinking makes this discussion very accessible for children of these ages. However, I did feel that the ending was a little to simplistic. Race and prejudice are complex topics and the ending doesn’t really reflect that complexity.

How to use this book in the curriculum:
- Works well as a Read Aloud.
- Modeling how a character changes over the course of a book or how to incorporate internal thought.
- Including this book into an Author Study on Andrew Clements (I would make sure to structure conversation with this book as it deals with sensitive issues).
- Using this book to discuss issues of race in the school and/or community.

Domains of Social Justice:
2. Respect for Others – In this novel, Phil is working to understand his own negative reactions and thoughts. He seeks to understand how his thoughts and actions towards Daniel, and those of other races, affect his relationship with those around him.
3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice – Phil repeatedly uses the word prejudiced to look at inequalities related to race.
5. Taking Social Action – Though Phil does not take a huge stand against all racism, in his own way, he takes action. Phil goes to Daniel’s house to apologize for his wrongdoing and mend his relationship with Daniel.

Website: http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?sid=810&pid=409950&agid=21
This website includes some ideas for lessons and discussion questions.

The Composition by Antonio Skarmeta

2008-02-02T08:37:00.001-08:00

Title: The Composition
Author: Antonio Skarmeta
Illustrator: Alfonso Ruano

Grades: 3-5

Summary:
Antonio Skarmeta wrote this children’s book about a boy named Pedro who lives with his mother and father in an unnamed country under a dictatorship. This book is about freedom, making choices and personal responsibility from a child’s point of view. Every day after work Pedro’s parents and neighbors sit around the radio in his home listening to broadcasts from a “long way away.” Pedro does not understand why the adults are so interested in listening to the radio, and goes on with his daily life, going to school and playing soccer with his friends. While he is playing soccer one day, Pedro witnesses his friend Daniel’s father, the owner of the local grocery store, being taken away by soldiers. When he asks his parents about what happened, he learns that Daniel’s father, as well as his own parents, are against the government dictatorship. The next day, a man in uniform named Captain Romo enters Pedro’s classroom, asking all the children to write a composition as part of a contest called “What my Family Does at Night.” At the end, Pedro’s composition is revealed through his parents reading it. He describes a very boring, and blatantly false story of what his family does at night, “I go out and play soccer…we sit at the table and I eat…after supper my father and mother sit on the sofa and play chess and I do my homework.” His parents smile after reading this, and his father says, “Well, we’d better buy a chess set.”

Reflection:
I thought this book gave a strong, but subtle account of how children can take action against something with which they disagree. There is no specified culture or country, giving the message a more universal meaning. In this book, Skarmeta seeks to show how children come to conclusions about and act on the world around them, even if they seem like they are not aware of what exactly is going on. Many adults may think that children should not be exposed to the real issues and are innocent to injustice in the world, as reflected in Pedro’s mother’s words when Pedro asks if he is against the dictatorship, confused about his role in the matter. His mother replies, “Children aren’t against anything, Children are just children.”
The children’s’ awareness of the situation becomes clear when they are asked to write a composition for the General about what their families do at night. Pedro discusses the paper with his classmate Juan, asking him if he is against the dictatorship. Juan replies with “Of course I am…they took my father away up north.”
Pedro’s composition shows that he knew exactly what the soldier was looking for, and it was not just a school composition contest, but a way to find out more information about who is against the dictatorship. Pedro’s fabricated story about his parents playing chess every night was an action against the government, protecting his family and displaying his awareness of the government situation and the importance of freedom and personal choice.

Activities/Curriculum Units:
Subject Areas: Social Studies, Lanaguage Arts

This book can be used in a Social Studies Unit on different government structures, power, authority and goverance. Although the story never outwardly explains what a dictatorship is, it provides a backdrop of a small community and how it affected by the dictatorship. You can go into depth about dictatorships and what countries have had this type of government structure.
A role playing activity or writing piece can give the students more insight into what a dictatorship is, and how they would feel if they were in Pedro’s shoes. The teacher or chosen student can act as a “dictator, “ and the rest of the class will reflect on the pros and cons of this specific government structure.

Domains of Social Justice:
1. Self-love and acceptance: Pedro is a normal boy, living in a small community, and he learns more about his role in his family and community, and realizes the importance of his own actions. Students will learn more about their roles and how they are an important part of their own communities.

3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Pedro’s community experiences government oppression. His friends and neighbors are being taken away by soldiers, and the government even invades his classroom to get more information about their families.
Students will learn of the injustice of a dictatorship and why Pedro’s community is living in fear.

5. Taking Social Action: Pedro chooses to fabricate a story about his family because he knows that the government may not like that they listen to the radio every night and are against the dictatorship. Students will see how Pedro took action, and although it was a seemingly small action, it was important to protect his family. More importantly, his awareness of the situation shows that children can take a stand and choose to go against something that is unjust. Students can think about their own personal choices and how tey have effected their lives and the lives of others around them. They can brainstorm more ways they could take an active role in their own communities, as well as ways they coud help others that are facing injustices. The children can chose one small thing to do indivudally and one larger action to take as a class against an issue with the government or community.

Other resources:
Website of lesson ideas for this book:
http://www.lindakreft.com/Americas/composition.html
Dictator For a Day:
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/tlc-ancientrome/#que

Buy the book at Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Composition-Antonio-Skarmeta/dp/0888995504/ref=pd_bbs_1ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201969649&sr=8-1

and tango makes three

2008-02-01T13:42:00.000-08:00

Title: and tango makes three

Authors: Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Illustrator: Henry Cole

Summary: and tango makes three is a wonderful story about families. There are all different kinds of families that visit Central Park, but there are different kinds of families that live in the park as well. Two male penguins in the Central Park Zoo, Silo and Roy, spend all of their time together doing things that a penguin "couple" would do. When Mr. Gramzay, their keeper, notices this, he gives Silo and Roy an egg that is unable to be cared for by its own parents. Silo and Roy take care of, hatch and love their new baby, Tango. This book sends the message that every family is different, and the only thing that really defines a family is love.

Reflections: The first thing I noticed about this book is its strong message about family. It does not matter who your family is made up of- as long as there is love, your family is complete. I also really liked the idea that just because a couple is made up of a male and female does not mean that they will make the best parents, as we see in the case of the penguins who cannot successfully take care of their own egg. This book also includes the messages of adoption in a way, as well as homosexuality. These messages are not blatant, which leaves room for a teacher to use the book from whichever angle he/she chooses. My favorite message of the book is about Mr. Gramzay, the zoo keeper. Last year we spoke a lot of social justice allies. These are people that advocate for change who may not be directly affected by the issue at hand. Mr. Gramzay believed in Silo and Roy's love and gave them the chance to show that love through a child.

How to Use This Book in the Curriculum: In first grade, the social studies curriculum speaks about the students' community. Last year, I planned and taught a unit on Central Park, which is part of their community on the Upper East Side (and much of Manhattan). It mentions places in Central Park, and the students could even go visit to see Silo, Roy and Tango. This book would be wonderful to use in this unit. Beside social studies, this book would be great to use in science for an animal unit (most obviously penguins, but other animals it mentions, and even a zoo study). In math, the concept on doubling or couples is very important, and could be helped along by the concept of Silo and Roy as a "couple" of two penguins.

Domains of Social Justice:
1.) Self-Love and Acceptance: This book sends a great message to those students who might feel that their families are "different". The messages that all families are at least a little different from each other, and that a family is only defined by love, are very prominent.
2.) Respect for Others: The story promotes tolerance and respect for other people and their families, not matter who they are made up of. It also shows a great example of a "different" kind of family being wonderful parents.
3.) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Since Silo and Roy did become great parents, would it have been fair for them to be denied the chance to have children (adopt)? (This could turn into a conversation about adoption laws for homosexual singles and couples.)
4.) Social Movements and Social Change: Just by reading this book, it is taking a stand for equality and tolerance inside and outside the classroom, despite book bans and restrictions in certain parts of the country.
5.) Taking Social Action: Like Mr. Gramzay, students learn that they do not have to be the ones being oppressed to stand up for what is right. Being an ally is very important and can change people's lives.

Websites:
http://www.amazon.com/Tres-Con-Tango-Makes-Three/dp/8478715800/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201994083&sr=8-1

http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?sid=183&pid=505791&agid=21

http://blogs.ala.org/oif.php?title=top10list&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

"Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez"

2008-01-31T17:33:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez
AUTHOR: Kathleen Krull
ILLUSTRATED BY: Yuyi Morales
GRADES: 3-5

SUMMARY: This book chronicles the true life of Cesar Chavez, a prominent civil rights leader who used peaceful non-violent ways to unite migrant farmworkers in California. The book follows Cesar throughout his life, and with beautifully vibrant illustrations and excellent descriptive language gives readers a heartwarming and honest biography. Much of the book tells of Cesar's life as a child, when his family owned acres of land and had large, lush gardens and farms. Readers quickly discover the harsh experiences that Chavez underwent, including being teased at school. Throughout the book, family is emphasized as an important influence, and the one that taught him to use "minds and mouths, not violence, to work out conflicts." When Cesar's family had to give up their property and move to California because of a drought, they become migrant workers, working on other people's farms to pick crops. They were treated poorly, and had less than proper living conditions. Cesar was looked upon negatively because he spoke Spanish instead of English. In his twenties, Cesar realized that this would continue going on unless someone stood up and fought against this form of slavery. Chavez went on to form one of the largest non-violent protests and led strikes, all with the positive slogan, "Si se puede!" or "yes, it can be done!"

REFLECTION: This book approaches both Chavez, and the topic of social justice with a positive, encouraging tone. The beautiful illustrations and simple, yet descriptive language make this a wonderful read-aloud, even with older grades, all while promoting social justice and fighting for a cause. There is a wonderful section at the end of the book which incorporates the idea that Chavez's ideas weren't always applauded and he was very controversial. This encourages readers to research other aspects of Chavez's life and understand that all historical events are perceived differently, as we read in Loewen. I love this book and it is definitely going to be a part of my classroom library!

BOOK USE/CURRICULUM UNITS: Obviously, this book has a ton of Multicultural and Social Justice applications. Also, it would be possible to use it for a character study, especially in younger grades. For the older grades, the book could be used in conjunction with outside research about other aspects of Chavez's life. Continuing with Social Studies, a unit could be launched on human rights, with the book as a springboard, especially into similar situations in other countries. Of course, the book's positive message about non-violent "fighting" for a cause could be included in a unit about advocating for change, as well.

DOMAINS OF SOCIAL JUSTICE:
1.) Self-Love and Acceptance: Though the book only focuses on Chavez's own culture, student will recognize that Chavez stood up for himself and his culture, even when others didn't. The book discusses Chavez's strong pride that he has for himself, something that his family helped him to establish.
2.) Respect for Others: Chavez found a non-violent way to encourage those who held no respect for the workers that they have rights like every other person, and should be treated and respected as such.
3.) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Much of the book focuses on the treatment of these workers and the pain and suffering that they endured. Issues tackled here include racism and classism, and students ( as unfortunate as it may be) might connect to these issues or other forms of oppression.
4.) Social Movements and Social Change: Of course, the big goal here is about struggling for social change, and how Cesar worked towards it. This is a good opening to explore other forms of social movements and change.
5.) Taking Social Action: This book leaves readers so empowered, incorporating an easy opening for students to find their own cause and create their own plan for social justice.

ALL IN ALL: Great Book! :)

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt

2008-01-31T17:15:00.000-08:00

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
By: Deborah Hopkinson
paintings by James Ransome

Synopsis: Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt is about a girl who is taken away from her mother at a young age to become a field hand. She then meets a woman who becomes her "aunt," who gives her the opportunity to work inside the house as a seamstress instead of out in the field. After becoming a seamstress, Clara decides she wants to run away from the life she has, and weaves a map into a quilt she creates to help her escape. The character in this book is independent and courageous, as she plans for her own escape without the help of others.

Possible Activities: This book can be used to introduce concepts of freedom and bondage. Students can compare and contrast ideas surrounding what it means to be free. Also in the realms of freedom and bondage are the different kinds of lifestyles individuals may have. Students can talk about different lifestyles based on time periods, locations, etc. This book can also be used to explore the beginnings of social movements, when individuals first began to go against the structures of society (i.e. running away from their "masters"). The book can also be used to introduce geography and maps.

Social Justice Education: 1) Self-Love and Acceptance: Students can learn about the courageousness of their people and learn about their histories. 3) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Students can begin to explore issues of racism that lead to slavery. They can also begin to understand how racism in history has had an impact on present-day racism. 4) Social movements and social change: Students can see how individuals struggled for freedom, going against the conventions of society. Individuals that helped fight for freedom were both black and white - an issue that is mentioned briefly in the book. 5) Taking Social Action: Students can see that individuals who did not agree with the slavery went against society to do what they believed was right. Many individuals risked their own lives to help slaves to freedom.

http://www.teachersfirst.com/share/ugrr/clara.html

Nettie's Trip South

2008-01-30T20:43:00.000-08:00

Nettie’s Trip South
Author: Ann Turner
Illustrated by: Ronald Himler

Summary: This story is about a girl named Nettie. The story is in the format of a letter. Nettie writes to her friend Addie and talks about her first experience visiting the south, everything from the train ride there to the many different things that she saw. She talks about what it was like seeing slaves but more importantly she expresses her opinion on everything. She sees the way they lived and the work that they needed to do. She also sees a slave auction. Seeing all these things disturbs her and makes her sick. She becomes very compassionate, sympathetic towards blacks and becomes very grateful for what she can do.

Reflections: I was very touched by this book. I believe that Nettie’s reaction to her first experience with slaves is very meaningful and speaks loudly. Her reactions really showed me that she looked pass their appearance and was able to look beyond that. I believe that this book will help the students learn about what it was like in the past and can also be a lesson to the students.

How would I use the book/curriculum units: This book could be used during a historical fiction reading unit. The students can learn about what was happening during the time of slavery. This book could also be used to start letter writing. This book can also be used for community building and teaching students to look beyond what their appearances are but to look deeper like Nettie did.

Domains of Social Justice:
1. Self-love and acceptance: This book addresses the issue of this domain, because through this book we could talk about different race and cultures and you can talk about how each person no matter what race or culture is accepted.
2. Respect for Others – This book really addresses this domain. We can see with Nettie’s reaction that she was able to respect other and look beyond their skin color.
3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice – The issue of racism is definitely confronted. There can be a lot of discussion around this issue. As you read the story, the students will learn about the way that the blacks lived and the way that they were treated. The students will hopefully understand the oppression that took place during this time.
4. Social movements and Social Change – I believe that from reading this book the students will be able to start looking at what happened after slavery and how equality was trying to be achieved.
5. Taking Social action – After reading this book and talking about Nettie’s reaction and their own reaction you can discuss what she should do next and what we can do to continue to make a difference. From this discussion, we can try to start taking action.

I believe that this book is a good beginning book for students to see what the south was like and what slavery really was. The students can see Nettie’s reaction and from that point, further their thinking and discussion explore in the other domains.

Courage of the Blue Boy

2008-01-30T20:09:00.000-08:00

Summary: Courage of the Blue Boy is about a boy who lives in a blue land. He starts to think that there must be more than blue, and goes on an adventure seeking out other colors. One day, he finds a city that is filled with many colors, but blue is missing. The blue boy is frightened and retreats to his room. However, he collects the courage to push out blue ideas out of his door. The next time he goes out to the city, he sees that there are little bits of blue everywhere, and starts to appreciate the diversity of the many colors, while embracing his unique identity.

Reflections: I chose this book because it places real social issues in a context that is easy to understand for younger children. The use of bright colors helps to carry the storyline and is appealing to the eye. I think that young children will be able to relate to the Blue Boy through some aspect of their lives, when they felt different and scared. The courage of the Blue Boy is something that I would like all of my students to model because I believe that every child has something unique to offer.

How would I use the book/curriculum units: This book can be used in the sense of multicultural education, as an introductory book to open discussions about social issues that exist in our society. It can be used to demonstrate the significance of personally identity through a character study. In addition, this book can be used in the beginning of the year while initially building a classroom community. It reinforces the fact that even though individuals can be different, they have special things to offer to the community.

Domains of Social Justice: This is a great book that demonstrates self-love and acceptance (1). The main character’s development shows how individuals can make a contribution to society while keeping in touch with their identity. In addition, this book can be used symbolically to explore issues of social justice (2) by discussing how similar issues relate in our society. The courage of the Blue Boy also demonstrates social change (3) and can be used to empower students to create change.

Halmoni and the picnic

2008-01-30T18:54:00.000-08:00

Halmoni and the Picnic
Author: Sook Nyul Choi
Illustrated by: Karen Dugan
Age Range: 5-8 years
Grade Range- Grades K-3

Summary: In this story, Halmoni and the Picnic, Halmoni (Korean word for 'grandma') is a Korean immigrant grandmother who goes on a trip with her granddaughter's class for the first time. Yunmi is afraid her Korean grandmother will never feel comfortable in the United States. She is too embarrassed to speak English and she finds the customs confusing. Even Yunmi's good-natured friends want to help Halmoni adjust. So when their teacher asks for a chaperone for a class picnic, Yunmi's friends volunteer Halmoni. Halmoni is thrilled and honored that the children asked for her. She even prepares a special picnic snack - kimbop (Korean sushi?? it's really tasty!!) and cold barley tea. But suddenly Yunmi feels apprehensive. Perhaps the other kids will think Halmoni is foreign and strange. They may not want to eat the unfamiliar kimbop. But Yunmi's worries prove to be unwarranted. Everyone enjoys Halmoni's delicious snack, and they even learn some Korean words. In turn, Halmoni says a few words in English. It is a realistic and charming immigrant story.

Reflections: I mainly chose this book because it shows the life of a Korean immigrant who moved to the United States. It's rare to find books on Korean-Americans, and it was something I could relate to on a personal level since both my parents are immigrants from Korea. I was able to empathize with the characters in this book and relate to the fears the little girl had. It was a really great book that teaches all readers about the traditions and culture of a different country. The illustrations were done in pencil and watercolor and they were accurate in their detail; such as the drawings of Halmoni's tradition Korean dress (known as a 'hanbok').

How would I use the book/curriculum units: This book can help introduce the student's own culture or traditions with other children in the class. There can be a unit study on different cultures where children can share where they're coming from. Having students bring in a special dish from their culture or family to share with the class or school. Sharing food is another way of actually experiencing the specific culture. This can be a great way of community building and appreciating the different cultures out there. Children can write storybooks about their own family. This can be another way of opening up discussion about different families, and how no one is the same.

Domains of Social Justice: 1) Domains of self-love and acceptance: Yunmi learns to appreciate and be proud of her Halmoni. She is no longer embarrassed about her Korean culture and traditions. Halmoni also feels grateful that she is appreciated amongst Yunmi's peers. She feels more at ease and is happy being in this new country. 2) Respect for Others: Yunmi, students, and Halmoni learn to appreciate and learn more about the culture and traditions of others. 4) Social Movements and Social Change: Students learn about the different food, clothing, and language that Halmoni grew up with. The students encouraged Halmoni to come to the picnic trip so they could get her to feel more comfortable. 5) Taking Social Action: Students actually try out new things and learn a little Korean and find out they actually like it. They are helping Halmoni adjust to life in the U.S., and at the same time they are learning about Halmoni's Korean culture.

Seedfolks

2008-01-30T18:50:00.000-08:00

Book: Seedfolks

Author: Paul Fleischman

Summary: This story is about a vacant lot that is turned into a garden. In this neighborhood there is a vacant lot that is rat infested and filled with garbage, but one day a young Vietnamese girl named Kim decides to plant lima beans in the vacant lot. As the neighbors watch her as she plants her lima beans they become curious about what she is doing and decide to make use of the garden as well. The story is not told from the perspective of a single character, but in a series of vignettes written from a first-person perspective of a very diverse group of characters. Some of the characters are young, some are old; some are new to America, some were born there. They all have their own reasons for coming to the garden and the significance it takes on for each of them is very different. Despite prejudices, hesitancies, and language differences, the estranged neighbors begin to find ways of overlooking these barriers to develop new relationships with each other. Before long the multiethnic seedfolks have developed a sense of pride and fellowship. The distinct voices of each character show the reader the vast differences and similarities that can exist simultaneously among diverse people, and how these differences can actually help those people form a community as vibrant and rich as the garden they have created.

Reflections: I really enjoyed this book because it truly takes on multi-perspectives of how different people perceive and make use of the same shared space. I would definitely use it in my classroom because there is so much you can do with it. It can also be easily integrated into the various subjects. I love how the story is told from so many different peoples perspective, instead of just one character’s perspective. I think telling the story from different perspectives sends a much more powerful message about how although people are different we all innately share a common thing which is are humanity. The story authentically gives multi perspectives by telling the story in vignettes of thirteen different characters. I love how each of the characters are very different and represent people all over the spectrum.

I would be very careful about the age group I would use this with. It does touch on some heavy topics like, teen pregnancy and marijuana, but this shouldn’t be a reason to not use it, just be prepared and think about how you are going to talk about such topics in your classroom.

How would I use the book/ curriculum units: This book is great because you can easily integrate it into so many subjects. I would probably use in many ways one way would be a character study because the story is broken up into different characters. The character study then leads it self to a social studies lesson/unit. I would then probably have the student’s research each characters cultural back round and teach the class about each as a social studies unit. You could also have them really develop their characters by doing art projects like the ones we have been doing in class. I would probably also incorporate drama by having students become the characters in the story and acting it out. I would then incorporate Science by having the students learn about the different seeds and plants. I would have the students create our own classroom garden based on our own Seedfolk story. Therefore I would have the kids write their own vignette and what seeds they would bring to our garden and why. I would then have them physical plant a class garden. I would also encourage them to think about a place that like a park that isn’t so pretty and to think about how we can do something about it.

http://english.byu.edu/Novelinks/reading%20strategies/Seedfolks%20HTML%20Text%20Files/tab

Domains of Social Justice: 1) Domains of self-love and acceptance: Students learn to love themselves for who they are. In this story many different cultures are embraced and talked about. While some characters in the story have a lot more pride about who they are and their cultural back round. You can have your students identify with their culture and discuss one thing they are proud of that belongs to their culture and is strongly a apart of who they are. They learn that their culture is one of the many seeds and foundations for who they are today.

2) Respect for Others: Students will understand that just because people share the same space doesn’t mean they see it the same and even though people don’t see it exactly the same it doesn’t make their perspective less valuable or less important. As we see in the story each character initially uses the garden for their own purposes they soon find that the garden is much more than just their own and they respect the others in the community for being part of the garden. They are able to understand that despite our differences it is still a space we must share therefore we should learn to respect one another so our space can be a garden not a vacant lot.

3.) Exploring Issues of Social Justice: This story allows students to explore many topics such as racism, classism, and sexism because the characters in the story hold stereotypes and prejudices towards the other characters. These stereotypes and prejudices toward one another are expressed by many of the characters in the story. For example the character Anna, whom is an older white women, believes that Gonzalo who is Guatemala is using the garden to plant marijuana so he can sell drugs because according to Anna that is what those people do.

4.) Social Movements and Social Change: Students learn to appreciate other people and have a better understanding for why people act or see things differently. Students will understand that there are multi perspectives to looking at something.

5) Taking Social Action: Students will take action by thinking about a place in their community that isn’t so pretty or that maybe is vacant and what they can do to change that.