My Teacher is an Alien By: Bruce Coville- Science Fiction

WORDLE
Please click the link to view the image: title="Wordle: My Teacher is an Alien"> src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/699348/My_Teacher_is_an_Alien"
alt="Wordle: My Teacher is an Alien"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

Attack of the Evil Elvises By: Dan Greenburg Illustrated by: Macky Pamintuan- Science Fiction (Chapter)

Attack of the Evil Elvises By: Dan Greenburg
Illustrated by: Macky Pamintuan- Science Fiction (Chapter)

This book was about Aliens from out of space that can turn into humans if they have to. The characters (Ploo, Lek, and Klatu) in the book take their spaceship to Las Vegas, and when they get there they noticed that there were a whole bunch of people who looked alike. All of the people looked like Elvis and the aliens now humans could not understand why all of these people looked like Elvis impersonators. The impersonators were having a convention in Las Vegas when the aliens decided to go there. The aliens knew that these were just not any regular old impersonators; they thought there was something up with the Elvises. So the aliens decided to figure out what was going on. They would spy on the Elvises day and night and they finally figured it out. The Elvises had a evil plan of taking over the world. Of course Ploo, Klatu, and Lek were not going to allow them to take over the world. So they did everything they could to distract the Elvises to make them change their plans; and it worked.

You could use this book in the classroom by placing it in the class library. The book is a little long to have it as a class reading, and all of your students are not going to be on the same reading level. However, on that note you could use this as a small group reading book. You can have multiple copies in the class and have the students read this book that is on this reading level. While these students are reading this book, the other students who are on the same reading level can be reading another multiple copied book.

Behold the Dragons! By: Gail Gibbons- Folklare

Behold the Dragons! By: Gail Gibbons- Folklare

For this book I did a voicethread, which can be seen at (http://voicethread.com/share/414419/). Please forgive me for putting fantasy on the voicethread; however, I could not go back and change it because I can not do voice on my computer. I used a computer at the school (Aversboro).

Martin's BIG Words The life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.- Biography

WORDLE: Please click the link to view the image.




title="Wordle: Untitled"> src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/681146/Untitled"
alt="Wordle: Untitled"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

The Hatseller and the Monkeys By: Baba Wague Diakite- Multicultural

The Hatseller and the Monkeys By: Baba Wague Diakite
Multicultural

This book was about a man name BaMusa who had a happy life selling hats. The hat selling business was past on from generation to generation and BaMusa loved it; he would make the hats by hand out of rice. Once he makes the hats he piles them all on top of his head and walk through the town singing and selling hats. Everyone in the town knows BaMusa and the kids love to walk and sing with him. One day BaMusa was getting ready to go to a great festival in a neighboring town to sell his hats. BaMusa woke up that morning and was so excited he forgot to eat breakfast, so on the way to the festival BaMusa got really tired and he decided to rest under a shade mango tree. While BaMusa was resting the monkeys that were in the tree took all of his hats and were playing with them. When BaMusa woke up all of his hats were gone so he thought someone had stole them from him. He began to panic and then he heard the monkeys in the tree. BaMusa was doing things to get the monkeys to throw is hats down, but the monkeys only did what he did. Finally he got all of his hats back and he continued to the neighboring town to the festival.

The way you could use this book in the classroom is when talking about family traditions. Many students have family traditions and with the diverse background the students have in the classes now, there are going to be a variety of traditions. Also, depending on what grade you use this book for you can talk about things that is past down from generation to generation; things such as jewelry, clothes, and etc. Of course this book could also go in the classroom library or in students reading center bags.

Babymouse Puppy Love By: Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm- Graphic Novel

Babymouse Puppy Love By: Jennifer L. Holm
And Matthew Holm- Graphic Novel

This was a really funny graphic novel. I did not think I was going to really like reading a graphic novel because all I could think about is Pokemon books and things like that. However, this book really caught my interest. This book was about a little mouse who really liked pets. The mouse started out with a fish and the fish ran away, so he got another fish and that fish ran away too. So the mouse would go by the pet store everyday and look at the pets. The mouse had so many pets like turtles, birds, and etc and all of the pets escaped. All of the pets the mouse got from the pet store escaped from him and were all under the mouse bed. One day the mouse wanted to get a dog, but Babymouse mother told him that getting a dog would be a big responsibility. Babymouse know that he would have to take care of the dog, but his mother was not sure Babymouse was ready for a dog because what had happen to all of the other pets. Babymouse never did get the dog, and he never found the animals under the bed. Babymouse mother decided to stop buying Babymouse pets and Babymouse would just go look at pets in the pet store and not buy them.

This was a really cute book; however, it was a little long so I would not suggest this as a read aloud unless you read a few pages each day. This book could be use to teach students responsibility because Babymouse was not responsible when taking care of all of his pets. This book could also be used in a book flood, because I know some students would find this book interesting to read.

The Yellow Star The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark By: Carmen Agra Deedy Illustrated by: Henri Sorensen- Historical

The Yellow Star The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark
By: Carmen Agra Deedy Illustrated by: Henri Sorensen
Historical

The book starts off by talking about the city of Denmark and how all of the people were Danes. The king would ride along the streets of Denmark every morning without any bodyguards or weapons. Everyone in the city loved the king. Then one day war was spreading across Europe and King Christian could do nothing to stop it. The Nazi soldiers gathered at the Danish border and after the Nazi’s arrived the Danish people experienced food shortage, curfews, and a new flag. Once the king seen the new flag he sent a soldier to remove the flag. Upon discovering the flag was missing, the Nazi officer demanded that the king find out who took it down. The king told the officer that he sent a man to take it down, and the officer stated that a replacement flag would be placed on the palace again; however, no flag was every hung there again. After this the king thought the battle was won between the Danish people and the Nazi’s; however, the war was far from over. A few days letter the Nazi’s sent out papers saying that “All Jews must sew onto their clothes a yellow Star which must be visible at all times”. The king was outraged and the people were frightened because they had heard terrible stories in some places once Jews wore the yellow star. The stories they heard were the Jews would be taken away never to be seen again. So the king knew he needed to do something and act fast to save his people because he knew the Danish people really counted on him. One night the king decided that he would have his tailor to sew a yellow star on his clothes also. So all of the people in Denmark wore this star and once again the city of Denmark lived only Dane people, the Nazi’s could not get rid of them all.

How this book could be used in the classroom is during a social studies lesson when you are teaching students about Hitler and the Nazi’s. Also, you can use this book to talk about privilege with students. Like the video when the teacher tells the students who have blue eyes that they get to do special stuff for that day. She told them that they were the smarter students and they were first in everything they did during that day; however, the next day she switched the groups. She told the students that she made a mistake and the students with brown eyes were the smarter ones and privilege ones. Then after this experiment she talked to the students about privilege and how the experiment made them feel. I think this video was called Brown eyed Blue eyed. You can also talk with students about treating others how you want to be treated.

Cleopatra By: Janeen R. Adil- Biography

Cleopatra By: Janeen R. Adil- Biography

This book was about the life of Cleopatra and how she became the queen of Egypt; however, most of her life still remains a mystery. Once Cleopatra father died Cleopatra and her younger brother ruled Egypt; however Cleopatra brother wanted all of the power so Cleopatra left Egypt fearing for her life and went to Syria. In Syria Cleopatra gathered an army to fight against her brother for the throne of Egypt. Cleopatra met Roman emperor Caesar when he came to Egypt to stop the war between Cleopatra and her brother. Rome wanted Egypt’s riches and Cleopatra needed Caesar’s help. War broke out between Caesar and Cleopatra’s brother and her brother died, so Cleopatra gained total controlled Egypt. Cleopatra had a son and many say it was by Caesar, and then Caesar dies. Cleopatra then meets Mark Anthony and they fall in love with each other and had three children. Octavian wanted Anthony’s power so he turned people against Cleopatra. Octavian declared war on Egypt and Cleopatra and Anthony fled to Alexandria. Octavian captured Alexandria and Cleopatra did not want to go back to Egypt as a prisoner so she killed her self.

A way that this book could be used in the classroom is as a read aloud. It is important to do read alouds no matter what grade the students are in, and the students might find this to be an interesting story to listen to because her life is still a mystery. This book could also be used in literacy centers for students, or this book could be a part of the classroom library.

The Man Who Tricked a Ghost By: Laurence Yep Pictures by: Isadore Seltzer- Multicultural

The Man Who tricked a Ghost by: Laurence Yep
Pictures by: Isadore Seltzer- Multicultural

This was a really funny book. The book was about a man name Sung who was not scared of anything. He would have picnics in graveyards and take naps in haunted houses. One day he went to visit his friend and stayed for a very long time. It was dark when Sung decided to leave and his friend told him that he should stay the night because many people have vanished traveling on the road Sung needed to travel in order to get home late at night; however, Sung was not scared. When Sung was traveling on the road a ghost jumped out at him. The ghost asked Sung who he was and Sung flipped the question on the ghost and asked the ghost the same question. The ghost told Sung that he was a ghost and Sung told the ghost that he (Sung) was also a ghost. Sung told the ghost they must be cousins. The ghost followed Sung all the way back to his town and on the way there Sung asked the ghost different things about being a ghost. The ghost told Sung never let anyone spit on you because you can not change your form once someone spits on you. When Sung and the ghost arrived in Sung’s town that is when Sung tricked the ghost. Sung tricked the ghost into turning into a ram and when he did Sung spat on the ghost, so the ghost could not change his form. Sung sold the ram for 1,500 copper coins.

This book could be read to students to teach them not to be scared of things. Also, you could use this book to teach students about the Chinese culture. This book was one of the first ghost stories to appear in print in China.

Birmingham, 1963 By: Carole Boston Weatherford- Historical

Birmingham, 1963 by: Carole Boston Weatherford-
Historical
This book was about when the main character (a little girl) turned 10 years old. She talked about all the things that happened in her life when she turned 10 such as: missing school to march with other children, she listened to Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and most importantly the day the church in Birmingham was bombed and claimed the lives of 4 young girls. The main character talks about how many people where hurt doing that bombing and how the church looked afterwards. The main characters family was outraged and she just wished she was 9 again. When she turned 10 there was no birthday cake with candles, just cinders and ash. The ending on the book had a picture of the 4 girls that died in the bombing and a little excerpt about each girl.

I really enjoyed reading this book because the pictures were amazing. The pictures were not drawn that look like they were actual portraits from that time. The pictures gave you a real life feeling and it made you feel like you were there a part of the action. The pictures seem to be pictures that were taken by someone and collected.

The way you could use this book in the classroom is when you are doing a lesson on equal rights and what happen doing the time period of segregation. This book can give the students incite on the things African American children went through doing this time period, because the main character was only 10 years old. Also, this book could be a part of a book flood. You can add this book to the classroom library and allow students to read it on their own time.