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Nancy's picks for the best non-fiction of fall
1998 and ideas for using them in the classroom. Compiled
by Nancy Polette © 1998.
- Carlstrom, Nancy White. MIDNIGHT
DANCE OF THE SNOWSHOE HARE illus.by Ken Kuroi. Philomel,
1998. Gr 2-6
- An Alaskan summer comes
alive with poems of snowshoe hares,
chickadees, the Great Horned Owl, grouse,
wolves and other wildlife hidden by the
green trees.
- ACTIVITY: Choose one of
the animals in this book. Find three
things it eats, three places you would
find it, three things it does and three
things it has. Use the information in
this pattern:
- If I were a _________ I
would have ( name three things) and I'd
eat ( name three things) and I'd (name
three things it does) And if you look
carefully you can find me (name three
places). Illustrate your animal pattern
report.
- Curlee, Lynn. INTO
THE ICE AGE: THE STORY OF ARCTIC
EXPLORATION. Houghton-Mifflin, 1998. Gr 4-6
- Imagine living in the
Arctic in a driftwood shelter an entire
winter with temperatures at 50 degrees
below zero.This happened to a Dutch
expedition stranded on the Arctic islands
in 1596. This and other exciting
expeditions are described in this
exciting book.
- ACTIVITY: Have a research
contest. For each letter of ARCTIC list
as many things as you can that begin with
the letters that an explorer would find
there. Have a time limit. The winner
finds & lists the most.
- Geisert, Bonnie and
Arthur. PRAIRIE TOWN. Houghton-Mifflin, 1998. Gr 1-3
- One year in the life of a
midwestern railroad town one hundred
years ago.
- ACTIVITY: Compare your
life today with the lives of the people
in this prairie town. Compare: work,
getting food,washing clothes, shopping,
entertainment.
- Hansen, Joyce. WOMEN
OF HOPE.
African Americans Who Made A Difference.
Scholastic, 1998. Gr 3-6
- The lives and
accomplishments of thirteen
African-American women who blazed
uncharted paths in journalism, politics,
law, education, science and the arts.
- ACTIVITY: Use the bio-poem
model to tell about one of these women.
Each heading is a separate line.Name,
Four traits, Related to, Cares deeply
about, Who feels, Who needs, Who gives,
Who would like to see, Resident of....
- Koscielniak, Bruce. HEAR,
HEAR, MR. SHAKESPEARE. Houghton-Mifflin, 1998. Gr 3-6
- Shakespeare's dates and
list of plays along with many quotes from
the plays as a group of players approach
the bard in his Stratford-on-Avon garden
to request that he write a new play for
them.
- ACTIVITY: Challenge
students to use one of the lines in the
book at home in normal conversation and
report the reaction of those who hear the
line.
- Kroll, Steven. THE
BOSTON TEA PARTY. Illus. by Peter Fiore. Gr 4-6
- A major event in American
history, the dumping of tea in the Boston
harbor to protest taxes, is recounted
here along with handsome illustrations.
- ACTIVITY: Create as many
'only one' statements about the American
Revolution as you can. Example:There were
many ships in the Boston harbor, but ONLY
ONE was the scene of the Boston Tea
Party.
- Lester, Julius. BLACK
COWBOY WILD HORSES. Illus by Jerry Pinkney. Dial,
1998.
- The true story of Bob
Lemmons, a former slave whose tracking
ability as a Texas cowboy was legendary.
- ACTIVITY: Use 'Nat Love:
Black Cowboy' found in Lee Bennett
Hopkins' HAND IN HAND as a model for
writing about Bob Lemmons in poetry.
- Tolhurst, Marilyn. THE
EXPLORER'S HANDBOOK. Dutton 1998. Gr 4-6
- Everything one needs to
become an explorer from how to make
equipment to baking spice cookies.
- ACTIVITY:: Rank order the
items in John Speke's survival kit ( page
19( from the most to the lease important.
- Younger, Barbara. PURPLE
MOUNTAIN MAJESTIES. Illus. by Stacey Schuett. Gr
2-6
- The story of Katherine Lee
Bates and her trip west from
Massachusetts to Colorado passing through
New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and arriving
in Colorado, which gave rise to her
writing 'America The Beautiful.'
- ACTIVITY: List four
beautiful things one would see in your
state and include them in this song
(Tune: 'This Land Is Your Land').
- As I was walking through
(Your state) I saw _________ and
_________. I saw __________and
___________. A great State for everyone
to see.
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