Same, Same But Different
By: Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
In the book, Same, Same But Different, it helps explain to children how people are different but are all people. Students can see that they may look different but they don't always live the same life style, this book give small examples and illustrations of differences between different cultures. This book is fiction and it helps with giving the students a little light onto the different ways people live. Personally, I enjoy this book and would really like to use it in my future classroom. The book is short and keeps the students attention with the illustrations as well, but is also give them information. The author, Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw, does not typically write books herself but instead is an illustrator, which is a good hint as to why students like the pictures in the book, Same, Same But Different.
The Ugly Duckling
By: Hans Christian Andersen
In this book there is an "ugly" duckling that isn't loved by its family because it looks different from the rest. But just because of this the family learns that they should have loved the duckling all along instead of only once its beautiful. This book is a folktale. It falls under this category because of the message behind the book. The message is to not judge a book by its cover, basically. Some activities I would use in the classroom with this book include, working on none bullying acts throughout the school along with communication skills. I think that this book is a classic but also one that students should be exposed to. The book itself may be an older style of writing since it is a folk tale but it does give the students good information on how you shouldn't treat someone when you don't know them or their story.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
By: Robert Southey
This classic story is about a girl who is lost in the forest and finds this home, she went into the home uninvited because no one was home. After she goes into the home, she tried everyones food but only enjoyed the baby bears, therefore she ate all of it, she sat in all their chairs and broke every single one and finally tried out everyones bed and really liked baby bear's where she fell asleep before the bears came home and found all the messes in their house and her fast asleep in baby bears bed. This book is a fairy tale book for a few reasons, this includes, bears don't live in real houses nor do they sleep in normal beds or sit in chairs. A book of this sort allows for the students to expand their knowledge on stories in this genre but also expands their imagination. One motivational activity that I would use when using this book in the classroom is for students to rewrite this story using the same outline but different outcomes. Another activity that I would use is for students to write their own fairy tale from scratch. This gives students that opportunity to expand their knowledge and provides them a low risk opportunity to do a different type of writing.
Rules
By: Cynthia Lord
This book is about a girl who wants a normal life but has a brother who has autism. This causes her life to be far from normal. The book is all about how she wants to teach her brother the "Rules" about how life works so that she has a chance at a normal life. This book is a contemporary realistic fiction book. The book is about a life that has the possibility of being real to someone but isn't likely to be the life of many people. There are some options of of activities to do with this book. The students could write stories about their life and compare it to the life of the girl in the book. This could connect to a compare and contrast lesson. Another activity that you could do using this book is to have the students write rules of life that are followed on a daily basis. This will not only connect to prior knowledge but also work on connecting things to the real world for them.
A summary of the book (1-2 sentences)
An evaluation by genre (the checklists found in your textbook) and by illustrations (if any)
At least two suggestions of motivational activities including reader response questions (See
ideas in Chapter 12 of your textbook)
Two of the book choices should include a discussion of how the suggested activities would
align with the Saint Leo Core Value of Respect
Personal comments about the book or similar works by other authors, author background
information, and other books by same author
Bibliographic information and APA style (Students may refer to
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/08/ for help)
Include all the requirements on the rubric at the end of this document
