Andiematis

   Summary of Book: The story of Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato is an old traditional story that has been rewritten by Tommie De Pao. In this story, Jamie is a lazy man that makes his wife, Eileen, do all of the work until she is hurt and can no longer work. Jamie deicides that since nobody is doing any work they will end up dying and so he goes to confess during the night, finds a leprechaun and instead of gold gets a seed with the promise it will be the biggest potato ever. He plants it and it is so big he cannot get it out of the ground. So the townspeople help and then it gets stuck in the road and so Eileen says they should all eat from it. The people do and eventually become sick of potato. Jamie says he saved some seed so they can plant another one, but the townspeople are so sick of potato they promise to always cook for Jamie and his wife if he doesn't plant the seed. To which Jamie agrees.  Why you would/would not use this book in your classroom? I would use ...

     Summary of Book: This book is about a young boy that does not have a lot of money going to a wealthy private school. He is black and feels slightly out of place among the mostly white school. He enjoys drawing and wants to go to an art school instead of this one. At the end of the book, he has become really good friends with the kid that showed him around his first day on campus, along with another black student. He decides to remain at the school as he now feels as though he likes it. Why you would/would not use this book in your classroom? I would not as I personally did not appreciate that even though we saw a student fighting back against being called a wrong name, he did it in a disrespectful way and totally got away with it. There were just elements of this book I did not agree with and think appropriate for my own future students.  Appropriate age group for this book: 8-12 Ideas for unit of study to include this book or how you might use t his book in the...

  Summary of Book: Farmer Brown's cows and chickens get ahold of a typewriter and start to make demands that they want electric blankets. When the farmer refuses, the animals go on strike. Then the animals compromise and say that they will exchange the typewriter for blankets and Farmer Brown agrees. The book ends with the ducks getting the typewriter and asking for a diving board for the pond.  Why you would/would not use this book in your classroom? I would use this book in my classroom because it's main ideas of communication and compromise are good lessons for kids to learn.  Appropriate age group for this book:  kinder- 3rd Ideas for unit of study to include this book or how you might use t his book in the classroom: For a unit on reading, a way to incorporate this book in a classroom is to have an activity after reading the book where the students will have worksheets where boxes are available for them to label characters, problems, solutions, and setting....

   Summary of Book: This story is about the relatives that come up from Virginia to visit their family. They are loud, love to hug, eat everything, and talk a lot. So many came that they had to sleep on the floor squeezed in together. They stayed for many weeks and helped with gardening and fixing. Then finally when they go home to Virginia at the end of the summer at 4 in the morning, their grapes are ready to be picked and the families can't wait until next summer when they get to visit again.  Why you would/would not use this book in your classroom? I would use this book in my classroom because it could be incorporated into a unit plan. And I like the story.  Appropriate age group for this book: 4-7 Ideas for unit of study to include this book or how you might use t his book in the classroom: This story could be incorporated into a Kindergarten all about my family social studies unit. The students could create family trees and realize that they also might have rel...

   Summary of Book:  This story is about a poor young country boy named Jack. He trades his family cow for magic beans instead of money. His mother throws the beans in anger and the next day a huge beanstalk has grown. Jack climbs the beanstalk and enters a castle with a mean giant who does not want him there. Jack finds a hen with gold feathers and steals it and runs down the beanstalk where he gets an ax and cuts down the beanstalk so the giant can't chase them. Then he keeps the hen that lays golden eggs.      Why you would/would not use this book in your classroom? I would use this book in my classroom because it is a classic fairytale story and also, this story contains flaps and pop-ups which could be used to teach my students how to use these particular books.  Appropriate age group for this book: 3-7 Ideas for unit of study to include this book or how you might use t his book in the classroom: An idea for this book would be to include it in a f...

  Summary of Book: The story of Cinderella follows a young girl that has become a slave to her mean stepmother and two stepsisters. The prince of the kingdom has a ball to seek a wife and all the ladies are invited. Cinderella's evil family won't let her and leave without her. However, her fairy godmother comes and magically gets her ready and she goes to the ball, meets the prince and they fall in love. At the ball she leaves suddenly, but leaves behind her glass slipper and the prince searches for her using the slipper, finds her, saves her from her family, and they live happily ever after.  Why you would/would not use this book in your classroom? I would use this book in my classroom for a very simple reason. The  simple reason is because it is a classic story that I believe every child should still know. It teaches the morals of being kind and forgiving even when people treat you badly.  Appropriate age group for this book: Ages 4-8 Ideas for unit of study to in...

   Summary of Book: The Stone Soup is an old traditional story that was remade into this version of the story. Written by Anne McGovern. This story is about a hungry young man that comes upon a house with a little old lady. He asks the lady for some food and she says no... Until the young man tells her that they can make soup from an old stone. The lady is fascinated and asks him to show her. From there, the young man continues to tell her the soup would be better if she added things to it such as carrots, butter, onions. So the old lady does as he tells and thinks that the stone is why the soup tastes so good. In the end, the old lady and young man feast on a soup fit for a king. The young man takes the stone and tells the old lady it will make another fine soup another day. Why you would/would not use this book in your classroom? I would use this story as an illustration of sharing and helping others that are in need. Appropriate age group for this book: Pre-k - 2nd grade. I...

  Summary of Book: There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Clover is a traditional story that was retold in a new way. This book is about an Old Lady that continuously swallows things over and over in a fun rhyming way, beginning with a clover and ending with a fiddle. And after she has swallowed many things, she dances with a leprechaun and giggles so much out poppes a rainbow and all the things she had swallowed.  Why you would/would not use this book in your classroom? I would use this book in my classroom as it is a great book for practicing sequences and listing items in order. It also would be a fun way to introduce and explain the holiday of St. Patrick's Day.  Appropriate age group for this book: 4-8. Ideas for unit of study to include this book or how you might use t his book in the classroom: This book follows a great sequencing order. So I think that after reading the book a couple of times, having the students complete a sequencing order worksheet would be a goo...

  Summary of book : Each Peach Pear Plum, written and illustrated by Janet and Allan Ahlberg is a spin off of many of the traditional fairy tale characters including Robin Hood, Cinderella, and many more. In this book it follows the characters and on each page will include a line such as, "Tom Thumb in the cupboard, I spy Mother Hubbard." And from the illustrations, you can see an outline of the Mother Hubbard that you can spy. In the ending of this book all of the characters that have been mentioned throughout the book meet up and eat some Plum Pie together.  Why you would/would not use this book in your classroom? I would use this book in my classroom because it is one that could cause the kids to become involved and interact with the story. As it is read in a more "I Spy" style, the teacher could have them interacting with each page of the book. This book could also be made into a song quite easily like the Brown bear book.  Appropriate age group for this book? ...