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You have accessed the blog site for Choosing and Using Books for Children. Throughout the term we'll use our blog to record the books we read and the ideas we have for using them when we're teachers. By the end of March, our class will have read at least 280 books. Happy reading!

Two important protocol actions for EVERY post:
1. Underline or italicize all book titles (choose one formatting style and stick with it--underline OR italicize for all book titles)
2. Add your name in the "label" box before you post each documentation.

One important recommendation:
Create your documentations in a separate Word document, then cut and paste in a blog post.

Basic Documentation

Book Title:

Author(s):

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist:

Publisher:

Copyright Date:

Genre:

Brief Annotation:

Your Rating (1-5) and why:

Readers who will like this book:

Teaching Strategy from Tompkins or Yopp & Yopp (you'll link a strategy to at least 10 of your 40 books) :

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud:

Optional, but noted as extra effort:

1. Interest Level (age):

2. Grade Level Equivalent (grade):
Use book wizard to help with the previous 2 areas


3. List awards

4. Does this book have a book trailer? If so, cut and paste the web address here.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain

Book Title: Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain

Author(s): Verna Aardema

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: Beatriz Vidal

Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers

Copyright Date: 1981

Genre: Folklore (myth) picturebook

Brief Annotation: When a drought strikes the Kapiti Plain, young Ki-pat uses a creative tactic to bring the rains down and saves his cows. This story is told in a fun rhyming pattern with repetitive verses and colorful illustrations sure to please young readers.

Your Rating (1-5) and why: 4—This is an enjoyable book that will give children a glimpse into a different area of the world and open a discussion to learn more about the Nandi people of Kenya.

Readers who will like this book: Children who like folk tales and rhymes; teachers who are interested in integrating a book when teaching a unit to early elementary students about Africa, weather, folklore, or a variety of other topics.

Teaching Strategy from Tompkins or Yopp & Yopp (you'll link a strategy to at least 10 of your 40 books): Internet Investigations. “Internet Investigations enrich students’ understandings of a book by engaging them in research about real events, people, places, or other information related to the book” (Yopp & Yopp, p. 121). As a class, students develop a list of questions on what they would like to learn more about (examples could include “Where is the Kapiti Plain?”, “What kinds of animals live there?”, “Who are the Nandi People?”, “What kind of houses do they live in?”, “When does it rain on the Kapiti Plain?”, “What happens when it does not rain enough?”). Students will then choose a question to research with a partner and will record the information they find, as well as the source. Students will then share the information they have found with their classmates.

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: Is the Kapiti Plain a real place? What elements of this story are real (or could be real) and which are folklore? How do you know?

Optional, but noted as extra effort:

1. Interest Level (age): Grades K-2

2. Grade Level Equivalent (grade): 3.7

3. List awards: None

4. Book trailer: None

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1 comment:

  1. Teacher4ParentsMay 17, 2013 at 8:32 PM

    I love Kapiti Plain! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Bringing-the-Rain-to-Kapiti-Plain-Unit-673931

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