The Witches

Written by Rhoald Dahl
Illustrated by Quentin Blake
Copyright ©1983
Published by Jonathan Cape 1983
Dahl, Roald, and Quentin Blake. The Witches. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1983. Print.

Awards: The Whitbread Award, the Federation of Children's Book Groups Award in the UK, and the New York Times Outstanding Books Award in the US

Reading Level: Grades 3-5
Grade Level Equivalent: 5.5
Lexie Reading Level: 740L
Fountas and Pinnel Guided Reading: R
DRA: 40

Genre: Fiction, Children's literature, Speculative fiction

Suggested Delivery: Read aloud to grades 3-4.
I would use this as a read aloud in my classroom because the book suggests it. In the opening chapters the narrator refers to the teacher reading the book. Along with voices and accents this is a great book to read aloud to your class. 

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read
September 27-October 3, 2015

The Witches is number 22 on the 100 most banned and challenged books of 1990-1999.

Challenged and Banned for:

• Being too violent
• Anti-Feminist
• Offends witches
• Devalues the life of a child

 Educating students about banned and challenged books and the importance of freedom to read is a great lesson during banned books week. Here is the link to the American Library Association's banned book lists and activities for banned books week. 
http://www.ala.org/bbooks/banned

13 authors speak out against banning books:

Having children explore and choose books from the banned and challenged books list is a great way to promote reading and celebrate the freedom to read.

Writing Activity:
This book ends with a plan to wipe out the rest of the witches, but we do not find out if the heroes are successful or not. After reading the book have students write an additional chapter to the book. Have students think about what they think will happen next. With the narrator turn back into a boy? Will he and his grandmother be successful in their plan? Any other questions you can think of relating to the story should work. After writing and illustrating their chapter have the students share it with a partner small group and display them around the room or in the hallway. This activity may take a few days to complete depending on the length and editing of the work so plan accordingly. 

After Reading You Can Watch the Film

The movie costs $2.99 to rent on Amazon. 
As an extra treat you could show the video 
in class after reading the book. 
This makes learning meaningful to students because it improves comprehension of the story and helps the students visualize what was read. 













Vocabulary:
Indecent:not conforming with generally accepted standards of behavior or propriety; obscene
Metamorphosis:a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.
Larder: a room or large cupboard for storing food.
Trodden: (past tense) to set down the foot or feet in walking; step; walk.
Delayed:postpone or defer
Meek:quiet, gentle, and easily imposed on; submissive.

Wonder

Written by R.J. Palacio
Copyright ©2012
Published by Alfred A. Knopf
Palacio, R. J., and Inc Knopf. Wonder. Print.

Awards: Winner of the 2013 E. B. White Read-Aloud Award for Middle Reader

Reading Level: Grades 4-7
Grade Level Equivalent: 4.8
Lexie Reading Level: 790L
Fountas and Pinnel Guided Reading Level: S
DRA: 40

Genre: Fiction, Diversity

Summary: August Pullman was born to Stand out. Plagued by a number of facial deformities and surgery scars Auggie enters his first day of school in fifth grade expecting stares and gawking children, but with the help of some unlikely friends August overcomes his obstacles and finally feels a little bit normal. 

Five words/phrases to describe the book: diversity, bullying, friendship, facial deformity, hope.

Suggested Delivery: independent reading, whole class, and small group reading and discussion.

Vocabulary:
Forewarned: inform (someone) of a danger or possible problem.
Phobia: an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.
Gene: a unit of heredity that is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring.
Pogrom: an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jews in Russia or eastern Europe.
Deformed: (of a person or part of the body) not having the normal or natural shape or form; misshapen.
Taciturn: (of a person) reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little.

Before, During and After Activities:

www.padlet.com is a website for communication and discussion a teacher can post a prompt and students can respond and view other student's responses. For Wonder I created a padlet to be used before and after reading the story. The aim is to have students think about the message in the book about friendship and to evaluate what friendship means to them. Before reading students should think about what friendship means to them. During reading students should mark in the book using sticky notes acts of friendship in the book. After reading students can return to the padlet to respond to the after prompt asking what friendship means to them after reading the book and reflect on an experience they have had.

Here is the padlet I created: Padlet Example


Postcard activity:
The goal of teaching is to make learning meaningful for students. In this activity students can write a postcard to to the author, a friend, or a character (it might even be fun to send them to another class in the building). The students should write as if they were one of the characters or the author. Prompt ideas can include a summary what happened in that day (pick a chapter). Or how he/she is feeling about an event that took place. You can even get creative and make the postcard the cover of the book or an image related to the story. This activity is easy to customize and promotes writing and comprehension.
Post Card PDF

An Interview with the Author:
This video would be a good way to introduce the book. R.J. Palacio talks about her inspiration for writing Wonder. This creates meaningful learning and motivation because seeing the author talk about her book and the passion for writing bring a connection between the students and the text. This is a ten minute video so it is not brief, but it gives the students insight into the author and the story.

January's Sparrow

Written and Illustrated by Patricia Polacco
Copyright ©2009 
Published by The Penguin Group

Awards: IRA Teacher's Choice Selection

Interest Level: Grades 4-8
Lexile Reading Level: 760L
Accelerated Reader: 4.4, Points: 1.0
Fountas and Pinnell Guided Reading Level: R
DRA: 40

Summary: After seeing their friend brutally killed ten-year old Sadie and her family decide they must leave the slave plantation they live at and set along the underground railroad for the North. 

Five Words or Phrases to Describe the Book: 
Slavery, Freedom, Underground Railroad, Family,  Staying Alert

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction

Suggested Delivery: Depending on what grade and reading level the students are at affects the delivery. This book would be a great fit for a read aloud, a group reading, or independent reading. The  book is 96 pages which makes it relatively long for a read aloud in one sitting, but the language may be difficult for a struggling reader because the dialogue is based on slang and southern dialects. 

Classroom Activities:

http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery

This link to History.com has videos, photographs, and articles on slavery in America. Students can research slavery before reading the book so they have a basic grasp of what happened.

After reading the book the students can go to this website listed below and read and learn about the emancipation proclamation. Having a grasp over what ended slavery support social studies instruction as well as ELA instruction.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/

A key part of this book is the idea of speaking in the third person compared to speaking in the first person because by the end of the book the narrator steps forward and introduces himself while previously he was speaking in the third person while narrating. Some good questions to ask in class to confirm comprehension would be:

• Who is narrating the text?
• What really happened to January?
• Why did the slave trackers come for Sadie and her family?
• Why is Sadie horrified when she sees the pig being sold? How does this affect the story?

Vocabulary:

Paddy Rollers: Slave patrols were organized groups of white men who monitored and enforced discipline upon black slaves in the antebellum U.S. southern states.

Smote: to strike or hit hard, with or as with a hand, a stick, or other weapon.

Commenced: began.

Underground Railroad: a network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century enslaved people of African descent in the United States in efforts to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause.

Negro: 

a member of a dark-skinned group of peoples originally native to Africa south of the Sahara.

 

Abolitionist: a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery.

Eye to Eye How Animals See the World

Written and Illustrated by Caldecott Honnor Winner, Steve Jenkins
Copyright ©2014 by Steve Jenkins
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
Jenkins, S. (n.d.). Eye to eye: How animals see the world. 

Awards:
SLJ Best Books 2014, Nonfiction; Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2014, Picture Books; 2015 NCTE Orbis Pictus Recommended Book; ALA Notable Books for Children 2015, All Ages

Reading Level: Grades K-3
Accelerated Reader: 5.7, points 0.5
Lexie Reading Level: NC1040L
Fountas and Pinnell Guided Reading Level: N

Summary: Explore the world of eyes in this beautifully illustrated book about how animals see the world.

Five words or phrases to describe this book: 
beautiful illustrations, non-fiction, diverse, eyes, informational.

Genre: Non-fiction

Suggested Delivery: in a younger grade classroom I would have third grade students read this independently for interest, or as a project support. 

Classroom Activities:

Because this book is all about eyes a good way to incorporate technology in a contemporary way would be to use the smart board and extend the knowledge of eyes. Recently this picture of a dress has been going around the internet. Some people see that the colors of the dress are blue and black while others see white and gold. I think it would be fun to pull up the picture on a smart board and ask the students what colors they see. Chances are there will be some students who see one color and other students who see the other color. After I would talk about the eyes and why our eyes play tricks on us.

For further information you can show this short video explaining the reason people see different colors. Not only with this enhance the ;earning, but it can be used as an enrichment for students who are ahead in terms of reading level, but it is not too advanced for the lower reading level students. 

Another activity could be showing students how animals see the world. This short video shows how animals see the world compared to how humans see the world. The book describes how animals see the world, but some learners need visual representations to fully understand the topic. This would support the learners who do not grasp the written words as well and need extra support. 

Key Vocabulary:

Arthropods: A group of animals with jointed limbs and (usually) a hard, segmented covering, but no backbone. This group includes insects, spiders, scorpions, crabs, and shrimp.

Bioluminescent: Describes living organisms that can produce their own light.

Cornea: A protective transparent covering on the front of the eye. The cornea is curved and helps focus light. 

Iris: The colored part of the eye. The iris is a thin layer near the front of the eyeball that controls the size of the pupil.

Lens: A hard, clear structure in the eyes of humans and many animals. The lens moves or changes shape to focus light on the retina.

Membrane: A thin, flexible layer of tissue.

Nocturnal: Active at night.

Orb: An eye or eyeball.

Pupil: The opening through which light enters the eye. In many animals, the size of this opening changes to adjust to different light levels.

Receptor Cells: In many advanced eyes, there are two kinds of light receptor cells: rods and cones. Rod cells are sensitive to low levels of light but do not differentiate colors. Cone cells are responsible for color vision--each type of cone cell is sensitive to a different color of light. The number of different cone cells in animal eyes varies.

Retina: The light-sensitive inner lining of the eyeball. The retina is where receptor cells--rods and cones-- are found. It converts light into nerve impulses that are interpreted by the brain.

Before During and After Activities:

Before reading the students should look at the glossary for vocabulary and definitions. 

During reading the students should take notes or use sticky notes to mark where in the book they have questions and where their favorite part or fact in the book is. 

After reading I would have the students pick an animal from the book and do further research on that animal and write about what they found. This could have many facets such as a book report, a diorama, or a poem revolving around the animal. 

As support for taking notes on this and any nonfiction book is a graphic organizer. Students who do not have a lot of experience taking notes could benefit from the support of a graphic organizer. This one below offers a place to write questions and describe the student's favorite part. It is important for students to know how to take good notes so I believe they should learn these skills at an early age.