A delightful story that has many laugh aloud parts that would humor both students and adults (1st-3rd grade level). This would be a great story to use to teach “narrative writing.”  The first chapter is detailed with a wonderful exposition within the Plot Structure, highlighting characters and the setting. The setting is so polar opposite of the lives of our students living in North Dakota (going to school by boat and wearing a life jacket) The author paints a beautiful picture of unique and somewhat romantic feel of their life living on an island. Connecting the story with Science and the Square of Life Project will allow students to explore hands on activities and learn about others' experiences around the country/world. 

This book is a very comprehensive non-fiction text about bees. It is divided into 46 different subtitles including everything you’d want to know about bees. This would be a wonderful detailed book to initiate a class PBL on bees.
Students will show their learning using a variety of technology to differentiate needs and to introduce students to new ways to display their knowledge while engaging in the 4 Cs;             a.  Flipgrid:  Video record yourself describing: “How do honeybees talk to each other?”

b.Chatterpix: Draw a picture of an animal that eats honey bees. Create an audio recording and have the animal you chose tell 10 facts about honey bees.

c.  Seesaw: record yourself reading about bees

d. Seesaw: draw a picture about bees and write a paragraph

e.Touchcast: Create a Green Screen video of you as a bee going into your beehive… describe where it might be, what it would look like, and what would you do there.

f.   Edpuzzle: watch videos and answer questions/quiz throughout the video

g.  Youtube videos: On Google Slides of Science, Social Studies, and Engineering Songs- link videos for students to watch at home or in school 

h. Quizlet: flashcards, games, reading, writing, and spelling challenges with honey bees … available to practice in whole group settings, small group settings, or on their own 

i.  Google Slideshow: Research and create: each student will take a topic about bees and create a slide to have a complete slideshow when done

j. Kahoot: Whole group setting individually or in pairs to answer questions about bees. 

k.Google Hangout connecting with students from other parts of the country/world about what they can share with us about bees (many ag schools, STEAM related schools, or rural schools would have better access to this type of collaborative access)

At the beginning of each school year I do an American Pie activity with my students where I give them a few days to ask their parents if they know what country(ies) their ancestors came from. Often times there are many students with quite a mix but more and more you are seeing first or second generation Americans. Reading the book “Front Desk” by Kelly Yang would make for a great read aloud while doing this activity. Students would also be able to share of any struggles they or their ancestors had that were similar to the struggles that the novel’s main character and narrator MIa Tang experienced. 

The “American Pie” activity is pretty simple. Once students have found out their ancestry they would create a pie chart on a regular 9” by 12” sheet of construction paper. There pie chart’s sections would be divided based upon what approximate fraction/percentage of each nationality they are. They would then have to decorate each section with objects that would represent that nationality. My rule is that they should have 12 objects on the entire chart. So, for example, if they are 50% of one nationality and 50% of another they should have 6 items for each. If they are 100% of a certain nationality then they wouldn’t have to divide their pie, but they would have to find 12 items that would represent that nationality.

Even though everyone’s pies would be unique all of the students would decorate their names at the top in red, white, and blue. This shows that we are all equally American even though we have our differences. I believe the message in the novel “Front Desk” would fit perfectly with this activity. Mia and her best friend Lupe are both 100% Chinese and Hispanic respectively and deal with the daily struggles of discrimination. An activity like  “American Pie” would be intended to foster acceptance in my students. 

Following this discussion and going over rules.  I would do the directed draw with students.  After all it’s the beginning of the year and this is a time to build stamina.  Once they have drawn their chicken I will have them make a goal that they have for the year on interrupting.  We will then complete the lesson by doing the response to reading.  The anchor chart will be good resource to pull out in the middle of the year when some students need a little refresher.  

 

I think this would be a great book for the beginning of our school year.  Last year we were expected to do SEL lessons so this year so many of the books I am connecting to those lessons.  It is important for our students to know that everyone does make mistakes including their teacher, their parents, olders siblings, and etc…..  I think this would be a great book to use for an SEL lesson at the start of the year.  I would love for my students to know that taking risks and making mistakes helps us to learn. I also think it is good for them to note how Beatrice overcame it, laughed it off, and she soon began to embrace making those mistakes.  When students can connect to the idea they will be more empathetic when they and others make a mistake.  I think this would also tie in nicely with how do we use positive self talk when things don’t go as expected.

 

There are all kinds of great extensions and activities on Teachers Pay Teachers but the ones I attached or found were ideas that were free.  I hope that you will be able to use them if this is a book you would like to start your school year with.