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Literacy Focus
[supportive of the Boston Public Schools' Curriculum Learning Standards]


English Language Arts - Core Literature
Students will read and demonstrate understanding of 4 books from these lists exhibited through oral and written responses to key questions. Students will also read at least 10 other selections, including poems, short storeis, articles, plays, and other works of literature.

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[Grade 4] [Grade 5] [Grade 5AWC] [Other Literature Favorites]
[Children's Literature Sites] [Authors and Book Publishers] [Massachusetts Authors]
[Read aloud books related to Boston and Massachusetts]

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Grade 4

• "Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear" by Lensey Namioka
• "A Boy Becomes a Man at Wounded Knee" by Wood
• "Abel's Island" by William Steig
• "The Castle" in the Attic by Winthrop
• "Charlotte's Web" by E. B. White
• "Children of the Earth and Sky" by Kerensky
• "Circle of Gold" by Boyd
• "The Courage of Sarah Noble" by Dalgliesh
• "The Cricket in Times Square" by Selden
• "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by Elaine L. Konigsburg
• "The Hundred Dresses" by Eleanor Estes
• "Koya Kelaney and the Good Girl Blues" by Greenfield
• "The Magic Shell" by Nicholasa Mohr
• "My Name is Maria Isabel" by Alma Flor Ada
• "Onion Tears" by Diana Kidd
• "Sarah, Plain and Tall" by Patricia McLachlan ( Activitites )
  • Activity support - "Sarah, Plain and Tall" by Patricia McLachlan ( Activities )
• "Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes" by Eleanor Coerr ( Activities )
  • based on the real life story of Sadako Sasaki who died of leukemia as a result of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6 , 1945.
  • Extensions:
    • "Baseball Saved Us" by Ken Mochizuki (Lee and Low, 1993)
    • "The Bracelet" by Yoshiko Uchida (Philomel)
    • "Hiroshima" by Laurence Yep
    • "My Hiroshima" by Junko Morimoto (Viking, 1990)
    • "Sadako" by Eleanor Coerr (Putnam, 1993)
    • "Shin's Tricycle" by Tatsuharu Kodama (Walker, 1992)
    • "Hiroshima No Pika" by Toshi Maruki
    • "The Elephants"
• "Song of the Trees" by Mildred Taylor
• "Stone Fox" by John Gardiner ( Activities 1 and 2)
  • Follow sled dog racing: the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon (January), the Yukon Quest (February) and Iditarod Trail International Sled Dog Race
  • "Dogteam" by Gary Paulsen (Bantam, 1993)

Grade 5

• "Mississippi Bridge" by Mildred Taylor (What challenges did Josias face as a black man living in Mississippi in the 1930s?) [teaching idea]
• "Crossing the Starlight Bridge" (description) by Alice Mead
• "Dear Mr. Henshaw" by Beverly Cleary ( Activities and quiz)
• "Felita" by Nicholasa Mohr
• "The Fighting Ground" by Avi (background) [How does the main character change his view of war?]
  • "War Is . . . " activity and student work
  • Avi online
• "The Great Gilly Hopkins" by Katherine Paterson
• "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
• "Journey to Jo'burg" by Beverley Naidoo ( activities )
  • For the safety of their sister, Naledi and Tiro made a decision to reach their Mma in Jo'burg. In Journey to Jo'burg, compare two dangers Naledi and Tiro faced in South Africa that might have been similar to dangers experienced by their counterparts living in the United States prior to Civil Rights legislation.
• "Journey to Topaz" by Yoshiko Uchida
• "Kid in the Red Jacket" by Barbara Park
• "Pride of Puerto Rico: The Life of Roberto Clemente" by Paul Robert Walker
• "The Real Thief" by William Steig
• "Shiloh" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
  • Extension activity - video based on the story
  • Online resource
  • Activities
  • A Preston family value in Phyllis Naylor's "Shiloh" is telling the truth yet Naylor lets Marty Preston tell lies. Select three lies Marty told. Based on those lies and the reasons for them, defend or criticize Marty's behavior.
  • In Shiloh, when Marty does not always tell the complete truth, his actions affect the lives of other characters. Relate at least 2 incidents where this happens.
• "Sing Down the Moon" by Scott O'Dell
• "Snow Treasure" by Marie McSwigan
• "Sojourner Truth, "Ain't I A Woman?" by Patricia and Frederick McKissack ( Abolitionism and student challenges)
• "The Star Fisher" by Laurence Yep
• "Two Tickets to Freedom: The True Story of Ellen and William Craft" by Florence Freedman ( Abolitionism student challenge)
• "War Comes to Willy Freeman" by James and Christopher Collier
• "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleishman

Grade 5 Advanced Work Class Core Books:

• "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster [poems] [tollbooth]
  • Connections: Words; numbers; plays on words; maps; games [Jumanji] ; travel [Ben's Dream by Van Allsburg]
  • Concepts: boredom; time; doldrums; lethargic; point of view
    • Dictionopolis related [alphabet books; alphabet letters; words; homonyms; figurative language]
      • War Between the Vowels and the Consonants
      • A Cache of Jewels and Other Collective Nouns by Heller
      • Merry-Go-Round: A Book About Nouns by Heller
      • Kites Sail High: A Book About Verbs by Heller
      • Up, Up and Away: A Book About Adverbs by Heller
    • Digitopolis related [numbers; mining; shapes]
      • Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems by Lee Hopkins [JNF811MAR]
      • If You Made a Million by Schwartz
      • Math Curse by Scieszka
      • Fraction Action by Leedy
      • Eating Fractions by McMillan
      • Opt: An Illusionary Tale by Baum
      • Video - How Much Is A Million
    • Maps and traveling - Gulliver's Travels; Ben's Dream
• "Holes" by Louis Sachar [poetry-related]
  • Population and ecosystems connections: [Wump World by Bill Peet]
    • Deserts connections [poems]
      • Life in the Deserts by Baker
      • Magic School Bus: All Dried Up
      • Welcome to the Sea of Land by Yolen
      • Saguaro Cactus by Berquist
      • Desert Voices by Byrd Baylor [poems]
      • Deserts by Gibbons
      • Cactus Hotel by Guiberson
      • Video - Snakes, Scorpions, and Spiders - Learning Corp
      • Video - Spiders and Scorpions - Schlessinger
      • Video - Lizards - Filmwest Assoc.
• "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
  • Mystery connections:
    • Poem - America, the Beautiful by Katherine Lee Bates
    • Video - Get A Clue
• "Yolonda's Genius" by Carol Fenner
  • Jazz and musical talents connections:
    • Ben's Trumpet by Rachel Isadora
    • The Jazz Man by Mary Weik
• "Harry and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J. K. Rowling
  • Wizards, spells connections:
  • J. K. Rowling sites - X and X1
• "The Invisible Thread" by Yoshiko Uchida
  • World War II and Japanese Internment camp connections: (Japanese Americans in WW II)
    • "Journey Home" by Yoshiko Uchida
    • Poem - In Response to Executive Order 9066 All Americans of Japanese Descent . . by Dwight Okita
    • "Pearl Harbor Is Burning" by Kathleen Kudlinski
    • "So Far From the Sea" by Eve Bunting
    • "A Child in Prison Camp" by Takashima
    • "Children of Topaz" by Tunnell
    • "Baseball Saved Us" by Ken Mochizuki (Lee and Low, 1993)
    • "The Bracelet" by Yoshiko Uchida (Philomel)
    • "Hiroshima" by Laurence Yep
    • "My Hiroshima" by Junko Morimoto (Viking, 1990)
    • "Sadako" by Eleanor Coerr (Putnam, 1993)
    • "Shin's Tricycle" by Tatsuharu Kodama (Walker, 1992)
    • "Hiroshima No Pika" by Toshi Maruki
    • "The Faithful Elephants" by Tsuchiya
    • "Heroes" by Ken Mochizuki
    • The Unbreakable Code by Sara Hoagland Hunter
• "To Space and Back" by Sally Ride
  • Astronomy and space connections:
    • Poem - Post Early for Space by Peter J. Henniker-Heaton
    • Astronuts: Space Jokes and Riddles by Charles Keller
    • How We Saw the World by C. J. Taylor
    • Sacred Skies: Landscapes of Legend by Bevan
    • Four Ancestors: Stories, Songs and Poems From Native North America by Joseph Bruchac
    • Star Tales: North American Indian Stories About the Stars by Gretchen Mayo
    • They Dance in the Sky by Jean Monroe
    • Postcards from Pluto by Leedy
    • Mars by Demuth
    • Destination Jupiter by Simon
    • Moon Book by Gibbons
    • Magic School Bus in the Solar System
    • Magic School Bus Out of This World
• "The House of Dies Drear" by Virginia Hamilton
  • Underground Railroad connections:
• "Black Diamond" by Frederick and Patricia McKissack
  • Literary connections:
    • Finding Buck McHenry by Slote
• "Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse
  • The Depression connections:
    • Poem - Depression by Isabel Joshlin Glaser
    • Mississippi Bridge by Mildred Taylor
• "Bull Run" by Paul Fleischman
  • Civil War connections:
    • If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War by Moore
    • Pink and Say by Polacco

Other Literature Favorites:

"The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth Speare
• How does Elizabeth Speare, through her characters, send the reader the message that though we might face challenges, it is all right to be different?

"The Sign of the Beaver" by Elizabeth George Speare
• Connections - "Sign of the Beaver"
• "Sign of the Beaver" -questions from Houghton Mifflin's Eduplace
• criticism of "Sign of the Beaver"
• In "The Sign of the Beaver" by Elizabeth Speare, how does Matt, through his friendship with Attean, view 1768 Maine through the eyes of the Beaver clan?

"Paul Revere" by Joyce Milton (Biographical Sketch student work )
• On a piece of paper, create a web of Paul Revere's life using the bold categories
• Read online resources targeting answers to questions about Paul Revere. (print sheet)
• Read and answer questions about the Revolutionary War Period presented in an "Online Scavenger Hunt". (print sheet)
• On a piece of paper, create a timeline for Revere's part of the ride on April 18, 1775.
• Poetry - Using the "Midnight Ride" by Henry W. Longfellow, on a piece of paper, recreate the rhyming pattern for the first four stanzas. (AABB)
• A mathematical study of Paul Revere's family tree

"My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Collier [original town meeting simulation]( Activities 2 )

"Ben and Me" by Robert Lawson ( Activities 1 and 2 and 3 )
• How does the story told from a mouse's point of view change our perspective of what happened in history?

"The Cay" by Theodore Taylor ( Activities )

"To Be A Slave" by Julius Lester ( Activities ) and student challenge and original work

"The Wish Giver" by Bill Britain

"Night Bird, A Story of the Seminole Indians" by Kathleen Kudlinski
• In "Night Bird, A Story of the Seminole Indians", we learn that in Seminole culture, the children learn to "watch and listen." Give 3 examples of how one of the characters shows she is applying this training?

"The Pinballs" by Betsy Byars
• Cite 3 references with page numbers that explain how Carlie, at the beginning of the novel, was "hard as a coconut, hard to crack" and 2 references at the end of the story that display that once knowing her, she was a worthwhile person.

"The Slave Ship" by Emma Sterne - How do Cinque ("The Slave Ship" - 1839, Cuba) and Sarah ("Sarah, Plain and Tall" - 1910, Kansas) show bravery?

"Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World" by Mildred Pitts Walter.
• "Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World" is an intergenerational family story by Mildred Pitts Walter. At the beginning of the story, she shows us an insecure and disorganized Justin who lives with his mother and two sisters. How does she, as the author, involve the character of Justin's grandfather and the setting at his ranch to help develop Justin into a secure and confident member of his family?

Children's Literature Sites:

[ Children's Literature Web Guide | Children's Literature Gopher ]

Authors and book publishers:

[ Authors online | Children's and Young Adult Authors | Penguin authors online | Harper Collins | Putnam authors | Author biographies - - Internet Public Library (Ask the Author) | Author links IPL | Authors | Authors' birthdates | Bibliographies of Biographies and Autobiographies of Children's Book Authors | Children's Authors and Indices at Yahoo | Children's Authors on Yahoo | Children's illustrators on Yahoo ]

Massachusetts Authors:

[ Jan Brett (1) | Jan Brett (2) | Marc Brown biography | Margret Rey | Lois Lowry | Jane Yolen | Eric Carle]

Read aloud books
related to Boston and Massachusetts:

• Robert McCloskey - Make Way for Ducklings" [Boston Public Gardens]
  • "Make Way for Ducklings" - public art sculpture
  • Make Way for Ducklings - map
  • Teacher lessons - Make Way for Ducklings"
  • "Make Way for Ducklings" - teacher review and activity
• "And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?" by Jean Fritz (description) [1700s - colonial Boston]
• "A River Ran Wild" by Lynne Cherry (book description)[ecology of the Nashua River through time]
  • Activities - creative curriculum connections
  • "A River Ran Wild" - Lesson activity - Part 1
  • "A River Ran Wild" - Lesson Activity- Part 2
  • Lynne Cherry, author - biographical sketch
  • About Lynne Cherry
  • Extension - ecology of rivers - Blackstone River Curriculum Guide
• "The Ghost of Nicholas Greebe" by Tony Johnston (Dial, 1996) [colonial Mass.]
• "Giants in the Land" by Diana Applebaum [1700s tree masts]
• "Stranded at Plimoth Plantation 1626" by Gary Bowen (Harper Collins, 1994)
• "Walden" by Steve Lowe (Philomel, 1990) [Walden Pond, Concord - nature - 1800s]
• "The Bobbin Girl" by Emily Arnold McCully (Dial, 1996)[Lowell textile mills, 1830s]
• "The Salem Witch Trials" by
• "The Boston Coffee Party" by Rappaport [mob actions, 1700s Boston]
• Using the regional books about Cape Cod, how do the authors use the setting to bring out a character's interests? ("Madaket Millie," "Comet's Nine Lives," "Wild Horses of Sweetbriar," "Riptide")

NEW PUBLICATION AVAILABLE - From Caravels to the Constitution by Marjorie Duby.
(Path: Choose any link /Products /Teaching Resources/ page 9) at Creative Teaching Press.
Content: Blackline masters - Using word searches, hidden messages, analogies, anagrams, and creative puzzles, students will learn about history while they apply critical-thinking skills. This resource provides students with opportunities to organize and analyze information and to draw conclusions. Extension activities promote practical, informative, narrative, and expository writing skills to help meet the standards. 112 pages [LW405 - From Caravels to the Constitution - $13.99]




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Created 1996 - Copyright ©2000 - Marjorie Duby. All rights reserved.

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