by Macey Curry

Community Picture Books

macemariec28 — 2015-09-27 21:16:54 UTC

The theme of these books is community; specifically how do you affect the communities you are a part of? This would be part of a unit directed towards 2nd grade.

A Bus Called Heaven by Bob Graham

macemariec28 — 2015-09-27 21:37:59 UTC

Summary: Stella discovers an abandoned bus labeled "Heaven" parked in front of her house. Instead of having it removed, her neighborhood works together to make it into a community space.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3: Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

Activity: I would do an interactive read aloud of this book so that the students and I can discuss the major events that occurred in this book. I would then have students write their own story about what they would do if a bus was parked in their neighborhood.

Cross Curricular Activity (Science): Because they find out that sparrows have nested in the engine of the bus, we could have a "mini research unit" on sparrows. We could look at their diet, habitat and life cycle.

One Hen by Katie Smith Milway

macemariec28 — 2015-09-27 21:55:43 UTC

Summary: People in Kojo's village in Ghana help each other out by loaning them money so that they can buy something that will better their life. Kojo buys hens and the number of hens he has continues to grow.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.3
Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

Activity: This story follows Kojo's journey from buying one hen as a child to help his family to having the largest farm in Ghana and giving food and support to people who need it. It starts when he is a child and ends when he is a grandfather, so we could recount the events that occurred at each stage of Kojo's life. We could do it as a class, in partners or individually.

Cross Curricular Activity (Social Studies): This book takes place in a village in Ghana. As a class we could do some research on Ghana. We compare and contrast our lives to the lives of children that might live in a small village in Ghana. We could create a poster with a Venn diagram with "Ghana" in one circle and "Bozeman" in the other. We can do a 'think, pair share' so that students have a chance to think independently, with a partner and with the whole class.

Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt by Lisa Campbell Ernst

macemariec28 — 2015-09-27 22:23:22 UTC

Summary: Sam Johnson realizes he likes quilting and tries to join Rosedale Women's Quilting Club and is laughed at so he creates his own quilting club. They both go to enter the quilting contest and they drop their quilts in the mud so they work together to use parts from both of their quilts to enter the contest.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.2
Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.

Activity: This story is about groups of people overcoming their differences and working together to create something beautiful together. I would have my students analyze the moral of this story; which in 2nd grade would be working together and gender equality. I think this would be great book to generate a thoughtful discussion.

Cross Curricular Activity (Art): I would have each student create a "quilt square" where they draw something that is important to them and we would put it all together to make a classroom quilt. This would be a great activity to develop classroom community.