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Written by: Doreen Cronin
Illustrated by: David Small
Published: 2016
Genre: Fiction
Approximate interest level: Grades K-3
Approximate text level: Lexile - 720
Teaser: Genivive works for the royal family of the squeaky-clean glass kingdom, holding a spoon. The kingdom is falling apart, so they enlist her help to find Bloom, a messy fairy they banished many years ago. Only Bloom and the “ordinary” Genivive can restore the kingdom.
Teaching idea: After reading, students will create their own muddy kingdom with the help of bloom. Students will receive “mud” (play Doh) and other building materials like popsicle sticks, cardboard, and markers. Everyone will build one structure and label it to contribute to the building of our own kingdom and place their structures on the map. The purpose of this activity is to encourage hands-on building and spelling skills (signs). This activity is cooperative by nature, students will be encouraged to collaborate and make sure that they are all building something different from each other to practice their team work and verbal communication.

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Written by: Lisbeth Kaiser
Illustrated by: Liere Salaberria
Published: 2016
Genre: Nonfiction
Approximate interest level: PreS-3
Approximate text level: Grades 1-3
Teaser: A young girl called Maya (by her brother) was raised up in the south and had a difficult childhood. She had to move away from her parents, was attacked, and discriminated against. See how she overcame her past and inspires us today.
Teaching idea: Students will sequence events in Maya Angelou’s life. They will be given a large sheet of paper and small strips of paper that have the events written on them. After gluing the events in chronological order onto the large paper, students will draw a picture of one of the events in the remaining space. The purpose of this activity is to practice sequence of events and comprehension.

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https://youtu.be/NvR9YOpDG4A
Teaser: Merida is a great warrior, but she gets held back becuase she is a girl. She is expected to get married, but she would rather be free and explore. Listen to this song from her point of view!
Teaching idea: This activity will be an exercise in author’s purpose and literary devices. Songs and stories rely on devices for meaning and conveying emotion. The class will listen to the song and as a group discuss the song’s meaning.
Students will all get a copy of the lyrics and a checklist of literary devices. After watching the video , they will identify literary devices present in the song by completing the checklist and giving line numbers where the devices are present. The class will then come back together and see how the devices work in the song and what the author’s purpose was for adding them.

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Written by: Ann M. Martin
Published: 2014
Genre: Fiction
Approximate interest level: Grades 4-6
Approximate text level: DRA - 50, Lexile - 720
Teaser: Rose is a girl obsessed with homonyms and is misunderstood by everyone. Rose’s dad lets her keep a dog he found outside his favorite bar which she names Rain (which is a homonym). A hurricane hits and Rain is nowhere to be found. Will Rose and Rain be reunited?
Teaching idea: https://pin.it/ox7iiksxblxnqr
Create a found dog poster for Rain using evidence from the text. The purpose of this activity is to have students practice finding information directly from text and providing characteristics of Rain while keeping in mind the utility of the poster they are creating to guide them.

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Written by: Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Published: 2015
Genre: Fiction
Approximate interest level: Grades 4 - 6
Approximate text level: Lexile 550
Teaser: Ally cannot read, but is very clever about hiding it from her teachers. She struggles to keep her secret even if it hurts others, but her new teacher wants to see her shine. Learn with Ally that not all great minds think alike.
Teaching idea:
https://www.lyndamullalyhunt.com/books/fish-in-a-tree/classroom-activities/
At any point in the book, students will write a letter to a character in the book offering advice or encouragement. After the letter is written, students will trade letters and then respond as the character the letter is addressed to.
The purpose of this activity is for students to practice their writing skills as themselves and then taking on a more creative challenge in their response. They will also be practicing empathy in the second half of the activity, which is a great exercise for anyone.

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Self-Portrait with Small Monkey by Frida Kahlo

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Self-Portrait with Small Monkey by Frida Kahlo

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Teaser: Frida is one of the most famous women in art. She was injured in a horrible accident, but found her love of art because of it. Her unique art is considered surrealist and contains symbols of her life. How much can we learn about Frida from her paintings?
Teaching idea:
http://www.bancroftpfc.org/uploads/1/8/4/9/18492752/4-feb_kahlo.doc
The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to an important historical figure while teaching symbolism. In the activity, they will express their creativity by using symbols, just like Kahlo did. The idea of using symbolism is transfable to text. This can help students who have a hard time visualizing what they read understand the idea of symbolism in a tangible way and then apply those ideas while they read.

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https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/global-culture/identity-body/identity-body-europe/v/yayoi-kusama
Teaser: Yayoi Kusama is one of the most influential contemporary artists of our time, but her road to success was full of obstacles. She grew up in Japan and her family would not let her make art. She moved to New York and made a name for herself. Get ready to see her art and where she is now.
Activity: The video shown is a great example of a biography. Students will pair up and record the biography of a classmate. To make it more similar to the video shown, students will share about their lives and about their favorite hobby or their work (writing, drawings, any subject they feel good about). If technology is available, students can record a short interview with their partner and edit it. This activity will help students get to know each other better, learn more about the genre of biography, and experiment with it in a variety of literacies (writing, video, picture).
https://educators.brainpop.com/lesson-plan/biography-activities-for-kids/

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Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas

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Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas

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Written by: Dean Robbins
Illustrated by: Sean Qualls & Selina Alko
Published: 2016
Genre: Fiction
Approximate interest level: K - 3
Approximate text level: Lexile - 560
Teaser: Imagine what would happen if two of the most legendary equal rights activists sat down for some tea. Listen in on Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas’s conversations about the future of America.
Teaching idea: This can be used for grades K-2 and is loosely based on this link.  https://www.learningtogive.org/units/recognizing-our-similarities-and-differences/recognizing-our-similarities-and-differences

The students will listen to the story after receiving some background on who Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas are and what they did. This lesson is about similarities and differences and will teach students skills in comparing and contrasting, but also teach about acceptance, diversity, and equal rights.
The first step is to ask students what kinds of similarities and differences they see in each other. Then, create a discussion on if their differences make someone better than someone else. After, preview the book and explain that women and African Americans did not always have the same rights as others becuase of their differences.
Read the book and then go through what kinds of similarities and differences Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas have. Individually, have students comapare and contrast themselves to anyone they want and record their responses through words and pictures on paper.

Alternative idea:

In groups, students will make picket signs to either help Suzan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas’s issues or come up with a different issue that they care about, like bullying. This activity will help students understand what protesting is and how the characters in the story had to speak up to make a difference. This is a writing activity, so it will challenge them because they will need to get their point across conscisly. After the picket signs are made, students will present them to the class.

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Doing Her Bit: A Story About the Woman’s Land Army of America

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Doing Her Bit: A Story About the Woman’s Land Army of America

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Written by: Erin Hagar
Illustrated by: Jen Hill
Published: 2016
Genre: Historical Fiction
Approximate interest level: Grades K-3
Approximate text level: Lexie - 700
Teaser: In this story based on true events, a young woman named Helen trains to be a farmer during wartime. Although she proves to be a hard worker, she will have to convince others that she deserves a man’s wage.
Teaching idea: Students will be familiarized with the farm terminology used in the book like “whitewashing dairy, bindweed, plow, and tractor” and additional terms not used in the book. The focus of this activity is vocabulary.
The entire class will participate in a flyswatter game. The class will be divided in half and two words at a time will be projected on the board. Either a definition or picture of the term will be given and students will have to swat the corresponding vocabulary word to win points for their team.

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Written and Illustrated by: Hanlon, Abby
Published: 2014
Genre: Early Chapter books; Fiction
Approximate interest level: Grades 1-3
Approximate text level: Grades 1-3, Lexie 650
Teaser: Dory, or ‘Rascal” is the youngest of three siblings and has a wild imagination. So wild, in fact, that it can get her into trouble. Get ready to read about her friends and their antics!
Teaching idea: Comic strip activity https://www.education.com/lesson-plan/bam-pow-comic-strip-writing/
Dory Fantasmagory has tons of pictures and dialogue in it that makes for great storytelling. I would have students try their hand at this kind of storytelling. The purpose of this activity is to teach students how to tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end as well as the structure of a comic strip. This activity will help readers unleash their creativity while sharing something about themselves or an idea they have. It will get them excited to write.

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Written by: E.E. Cummings
Teaser: Maggie, Milly, Molly, and May spend a fun day in the beach. They teach us a lesson about having fun - we can discover or rediscover ourselves on the beach, having fun.
Teaching idea: This poem uses rhyme and can be used to teach the concept of rhyming to younger students or poetry structure to older students.
In a mini-lesson, explain what rhyme is and how to spot it. After the students understand, read this poem and have them circle the words that rhyme on their own copies of the poem. Individually, have the students come up with words that rhyme. Have the students write their own rhyming couplets about the beach.

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Written by: Woodson, Jacqueline
Illustrated by: Lewis, E.B
Published: 2012
Genre: Fiction
Approximate interest level: Pre-k - 2
Approximate text level: Guided reading - M, DRA 24
Teaser: There is a new girl in class, her name is Maya. She dresses differently than the other girls. Chloe and her friends will not be her friend even though Maya smiles at them and asks them to play. Eventually, Maya stops asking them to play and one day she stops coming to school entirely. Now, Chloe has to reflect on the kindnesses she didn’t show and learn from her mistakes.
Teaching idea: https://www.comprehensionconnection.net/2017/09/teaching-theme-with-each-kindness.html
The purpose of using this lesson is to teach this book’s themes and have students hypothesize what they may be. This is an important part of being a reader, so I would help the students look for patterns and guide their learning.

An additional teaching idea from chapter 6 would be taking a “Picture Walk”. A “Picture Walk” is when the student and teacher go through the book without looking at the text for meaning. The students interpret the pictures that they see and then the teacher reads the text to see what predictions were right. This lesson is to remind students that they can look outside the text for meaning. “Each Kindness” has a lot of pictures, so it is a good fit for this lesson.

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Anything But Ordinary Addie: The True Story of Adelaide Herman, Queen of Magic

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Anything But Ordinary Addie: The True Story of Adelaide Herman, Queen of Magic

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Written by: Rockliff, Mara and Illustrated by: Bruno, Iacopo
Published: 2016
Genre: Biography
Approximate interest level: Pre-k — 2
Approximate text level: 510 Lexile
Teaser: This is the story of a girl who has always loved adventure and excitement in a world where women are not meant to take the lead. We follow Addie through her life and see all the risks she took to be crowned the undisputed “Queen of Magic.”
Teaching idea: https://pin.it/yrtyutdsjfujhy
I would focus on vocabulary for my teaching idea becuase many unfamiliar words are introduced in this book (astonish, dazzle, spangled, ventriloquist). The dice activity could be done in parters or groups independently to have students actively engage with the vocabulary.

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Written by: Yousafzai, Malala
Illustrated by: Kerascoet
Published: 2017
Genre: Autobiography
Approximate interest level: Gr 3-12
Approximate text level: Guided reading - M DRA - 24. Approx. Gr 4
Teaser: Malala wishes she had a magic pencil so she could draw what she wanted and make it real. Malala enventually found something that she wanted to fix, but instead of a magic pencil, she uses the power of a real pencil.
Teaching idea: https://www.worldbookday.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Primary-Teaching-Ideas-Malalas-Magic-Pencil.pdf

This resource is a compilation of materials to be used with kids who are in 2nd-5th grade. The lesson I would use is the third. My purpose for this activity is to get students to understand Malala’s feelings and motivation for speaking out. The writing portion of this activity would be great as a writing workshop and I would help the students learn how to structure the diary entry in a small lesson.

Additional Teaching Lesson: Problem Posing

Students will learn to identify the author’s perspective and figure out what the opposing viewpoint would be. This reading selection might not be challenging enough for students doing this activity becuase it seems like it’s geared toward older grades. The activity can be adapted to be used with this book by making the chart in a class discussion.

The students would explore Malala’s purpose in writing the book. The class can be shown videos and interviews about Malala and learn more about Pakistan. After understanding Malala’s purpose and story, the students can then talk through what the opposite view may be like.

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Written by: Lindgren, Astrid
Illustrated by: Glanzman, S. Louis
Published: 1950
Genre: Fiction
Approximate interest level: Grades 3-5
Approximate text level: Guided reading - O, DRA - 34
Teaser: Pippi is nine years old and lives in a house with only her monkey, Mr. Nilsson and her horse. Luckily, she meets her next door neighbors Tommy and Anika and they go on many adventures together.
Teaching idea: https://pin.it/zvl5fv5r3c4q6o
This activity is meant to help the students describe Pippi’s character and serve as a way to review the book’s contents. Pippi is a unique character and it will benefit the students to talk more about her and her friendship with Tommy and Anika as well as dig deeper and discuss the motivations behind her behavior.
After reading the first chapter of the book, I would go in front of the classroom and ask the students to describe Pippi to me to reinforce their comprehension of her look and character traits. In small groups, they would work together to draw Pippi and quote the text as evidence of the traits.