Poetry for K-5: Love That Dog

LOVE THAT DOG

by Susan Creech





copyright 2001
HarperCollins, New York



ATOS level: 4.5
Lexile level: 1010
Interest level: grades 3-5

Description
Jack doesn't think boys write poetry, or so he says in the first entry in his school year-long journal. Totally written in free verse, Jack reflects on the poems introduced by Miss Stretchberry, tries his hand at writing poems, and expresses his doubts to her about whether his work really is poetry. The reader not only learns about different forms of poetry but also witnesses Jack's growth from wanting to be anonymous to writing to his favorite poet and asking him to visit his school (all in free verse). The joy in this slim book comes in part from recognizing familiar poems woven throughout, but mostly from how Jack slowly reveals the story of the dog he loves as he emulates several poets' styles and finally develops his own poet's voice.

Qualitative Analysis
Structure

• This story is unconventionally told in the form of free-verse poetry and as dated journal entries. 

Langauge Demands

• Though the form is unconventional, the free-verse poetry style uses familiar language. 

Knowledge Demands

• Students should have some familiarity with poetry and its various forms, as well as have some experience interpreting a poem's meaning. This book is based on several well-known poems, though students can read and discuss these (most included at the back of the book) as they come up in the story. 

Levels of Meaning

• This book has multiple levels of meaning, most obviously as a chronicle of Jack's attempts to write poetry throughout the school year. As a survey of poetry, Jack's poems need to be read as imitating other poets' styles. Woven through it all is Jack's heart-breaking story of getting, loving and losing a dog. 

Text Complexity

Curriculum Connections (ELA - Poetry)
Love That Dog could be read independently as a conventional boy-and-his-dog story and used for comparison to another boy-and-his-dog read-aloud (like Rascal by Sterling North, 1440L). But what teacher could resist using Love That Dog to introduce a poetry unit? Using the style of the book as inspiration, students could read and write poetry through the year. If you can focus on poetry only in one unit, first introduce and analyze the poems (included at the back of the book) and then pair up students to read Love That Dog aloud to each other, following it up with poetry writing.

Additional teaching resources

Related Resources
Children's Poetry from the Poetry Foundation
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/children/

The Red Wheelbarrow, read by William Carlos Williams
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/guide/178804#poem

Poetry resources from read•write•think
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/april-national-poetry-month-20478.html

Sharon Creech official site - author information, teaching resources, etc.
http://www.sharoncreech.com

When Poetry Meets the Common Core
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2012/01/14/tln_curran_poetry.html


Standards (examples for Grade 5)
CCSS Reading: Literature

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7

Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).


Final Thoughts
Don't save the study of poetry until April. Take a cue from this book and have your students reading and writing poems throughout the school year. Love That Dog gives you an excellent place to start.

History Picture Book: The First Step

The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial

by Susan E. Goodman
illustrated by E. B. Lewis





copyright 2016
Bloomsbury Children's Books


ATOS:  4.7
Lexile:  770
Interest level:  Gr. 3-8

Description
By focusing The First Step on one little girl's legal battle to go to her neighborhood school, Goodman helps young readers understand the history of segregation in this country and the on-going fight for equality. The story is important historical reading in its own right because it recounts the first legal case addressing separate schools, the first African American lawyer arguing before a Supreme Court, the first time African American and White lawyers teamed up for a case, and how one city became the first to integrate U.S. schools. The watercolor scenes on each page help the story unfold and ground it historically in mid-19th century Boston. With its integration timeline, summary of important characters' lives, and the author's discussion of nonfiction writing, this book provides content-rich nonfiction for elementary through middle school students.

Qualitative Analysis
Structure

• The basic telling of Sarah Roberts' story is easy to follow.

Language Demands

• There is some specific vocabulary necessary to understand the story (for example, petition, decision, integration) but otherwise sentences are not too long and use a simple construction.

Knowledge Demands

• It would be important for students to have background information about segregation in the U.S. to fully understand the gravity of the events described.

Levels of Meaning or Purpose

• This book can be read simply as one family's fight for equality, but it really needs to be understood as a magnifying glass through which one can learn basic history about desegregation.

Text Complexity

Curriculum Connections (Social Studies/History)
The First Step makes sense as a 3rd - 5th grade nonfiction text for a study of slavery and integration. It can be used at this grade level for comparison with a similar story from over a century later (The Story of Ruby Bridges).  How were Sarah and Ruby alike? How was Boston in 1847 different or the same as New Orleans in 1960?

In middle school, The First Step could be used while learning to use primary sources. After reading the story, but before reading the author's notes at the end of the book, students can be asked how they would gather the information to tell Sarah's story: what kind of documents would they need, where could they find the documents, and would there still be anyone alive they could talk to? Students could also make comparisons with historical fiction, such as Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, (by Gary Schmidt, it's based on tragic real events of an African American island community off the coast of Maine). Rich discussions could include examinations of how historical fiction is similar to nonfiction, whether they both use primary sources, and why you would choose one over the other.


Related Resources
Library of Congress - Teacher resources for using primary sources
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/

ALA: Finding, Evaluating and Using Primary Sources on the Web
http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources

Kathy Schrock's Primary Sources in the Classroom
http://www.schrockguide.net/primary-sources.html

Malaga Island - Radio and Photography Documentary (focus of Lizzie Bright book)
http://www.malagaislandmaine.org

Ruby Bridges Teaching Guide from Scholastic
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/ruby-bridges-and-civil-rights-movement-slide-show-teaching-guide-kindergarten-grade-2


Standards
ELA Reading Informational Texts for Grade 4

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.9

Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

ELA Standards in History/Social Studies for Grades 6-8

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.2

Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

Final Thoughts
I love a book which does more than one thing well. This book is history, a lesson in how to use primary sources, and a parable about the courage of taking that first step.

Science Picture Book: Glow

Glow: Animals with Their Own Night-Lights

by W. H. Beck





copyright 2016
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, New York


Lexile level: AD720 (Adult Directed) 
Interest level: K-5 

Description
Glow manages to teach exactly what it claims to teach: What is bioluminescence? Through scientific photographs of real bioluminescent animals, gorgeously displayed on large format glossy black paper, readers learn about animals which create their own light. The text is well-organized, beginning with the variety of bioluminescent animals living on land and in the air and water, then moving to the reasons why they glow. Accompanied by luminous photographs of strange-looking creatures, the white text literally shines with a sentence on each page in a pattern familiar to read-alouds: "They glow to hunt. They glow to hide. They glow to find a friend," and so on. This literary structure also makes the book accessible to independent readers in the primary grades. Even older students (which is why I rated the interest through grade 5) will be enough interested in the novel topic and photographs to read all of the text independently, including the paragraphs on each page which give details (in a smaller font) about the animals in the pictures. 

Qualitative Analysis
Structure

• The presentation of facts about bioluminescence is straight-forward.

Language Demands

• The new scientific term - bioluminescence - is defined and spelled out phonetically. Text in the supplemental paragraphs is more complex, but the main text uses common words.

Knowledge Demands

• No prior knowledge is required; the book teaches the concept of bioluminescence.

Levels of Meaning or Purpose

• The book has a simple purpose, simply executed - to teach about bioluminescence.

Text Complexity

Curriculum Connections (Science)
An obvious use of this book is within an animal unit focusing on diversity, adaptations or habitat. The pattern of the text lends itself to comparison with other animals. For example, the lanternfish, we learn, glows to find a friend. How do you find a friend? How would the lanternfish find a friend if it couldn't glow? How does a lion find a friend? If you lived under the sea, how would you find a friend? If you could glow, what part of your body would you want to glow? Why would you want to glow? These thoughtful examinations could be expressed in stories, artwork, or recordings. 

Related Resources
Edith Widder: The weird, wonderful world of bioluminescence (TED Talk)
https://www.ted.com/talks/edith_widder_the_weird_and_wonderful_world_of_bioluminescence?language=en

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History: Ocean Portal
http://ocean.si.edu/bioluminescence

Creatures of the Deep Sea
http://www.seasky.org/deep-sea/bioluminescence.html

National Geographic: Bioluminescence on Camera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HXXQBz6Vv0



Standards (Next Generation Science Standards)

	K-ESS3-1. Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live.

	2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

	3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

Final Thoughts
Glow, though limited in its topic, accomplishes what it sets out to do with stunning scientific photographs and explanations, satisfying a need for content-rich nonfiction about animal life for the younger grades. 

Math Picture Book: Ten Mice for Tet

Ten Mice for Tet

by Pegi Deitz Shea and Cynthia Weill
Illustrations by To Ngoc Trang




copyright 2003
Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco




Lexile or ATOS levels: undetermined (not enough text to measure)
Interest level: K-2

Description
This math picture book follows a familiar counting book format which can be enjoyed on many levels. It's Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, and 10 mice are getting ready to celebrate. On each colorful 2-page spread, a growing number of mice make the preparations: 1 plans the party, 2 go to market, all the way to 10 watching the fireworks. The illustrations appear to be photographs of embroidered village and family scenes. The costumed mice are large enough to be easily counted by readers (and listeners). Simple sentences use numbers instead of number words ("2", not "two") making parts of the text accessible to even the youngest readers. There are explanations about Tet at the end of the book which a teacher will read beforehand in order to explain the unfamiliar, but students will be able to figure out the mice's preparations through the detailed art. After a read-aloud, students can use this book independently, counting the mice, reading the numbers and one-syllable words, and retelling the story of this holiday.


Qualitative Analysis
Structure

• This book has the familiar format of a counting book, with each turn of the page increasing the number of mice and the number written on the page.

Language Demands 

• Although this book is about a Vietnamese holiday, the language is familiar: "1 mouse plans a party..., 6 mice open presents, etc." The simple sequential counting format is appropriate for the K-2 audience. Numbers instead of number words - in different size and color font - make it easy to read the numbers.

Knowledge Demands

• Listeners will easily understand mice getting ready for a party, especially if they are familiar with new year celebrations. The teacher may want to explain some of the Vietnamese customs, which are provided in the back of the book.

Levels of Meaning or Purpose

• This book may be understood on two different levels: as a counting book and as a book about the holiday traditions of the Vietnamese.

Text Complexity

Curriculum Connections (Math)
After a read-aloud where basic counting skills, as well as cultural themes, are emphasized, Ten Mice for Tet can be a springboard for other math activities. For example, a math center may have manipulatives which students count out to match the number on each page of the book. The book may be displayed on a desk with the challenge to count how many mice are in the whole book, each student writing the number on a poster for checking later (after everyone has had a chance to count). A teacher-led challenge would be for students to determine which activity has more mice (where are there more mice? watching fireworks or going to market?). Students could also independently open the book to any page, read the number, and count up to ten from that number, maybe even recording themselves with an iPad as they recite the numbers.

Related Resources
A mother's blog post about celebrating Tet in her son's class, with lots of links and ideas
https://myasiankiddc.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/lunar-chinese-new-year-tet-kindergarten-first-grade-lesson-plan/ 

Pinterest board on Chinese New Year and Vietnamese Tet with many classroom activities
https://www.pinterest.com/trish9/chinese-new-year-vietnamese-tet/


Standards (examples for Kindergarten)
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.A.1
Count to 100 by ones and by tens.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.A.2
Count forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of having to begin at 1).

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.B.4
Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.C.6
Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.1
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.


Final Thoughts
Used in the primary grades, Ten Mice for Tet can be an anchor book for many connected areas of study throughout the year. From counting and writing numbers in the fall, to reading about holiday celebrations in the winter, to comparing stories about mice in the spring, there's a lot of content to explore with this beautifully illustrated book.