Khristina's Book Blog

I read When Everybody Wore a Hat  written and illustrated by William Steig. This book received the New York Times Best Illustrated Books Award and the Parents Choice Silver Honor Award. This book was about the details William Steig remembered from 1916 when he was eight years old. There isn't any sort of order or storyline in this book; just a lot of memories or facts from Steig's childhood. I do like this book because it portrays a great picture of the early 1900s from a child's perspective and how different it was then compared to now. However, I really didn't like the illustrations in this book. I think the appropriate grade level for this book would second grade to sixth grade. I don't think I would use this book in my future classroom. A possible activity to be used along with this book is to give students a template to write their own autobiography. That would be one benefit of this book hardly having any structure. Students could use this book, and create the...

I read  Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet by David McLimans. This book received the Caldecott honor medal in 2007. This book is a very unique alphabet book for many reasons. One reason would be that the letters are in the shape of the animal that is being named. Along with the letter there is details about the specific animal such as the scientific name, class, habitat, range, threats, and its endangerment status. This is a super interesting book because typically alphabets are geared towards pre-k and kindergarten, but I think older grades can find some really great information from this book. I think the appropriate grade range for this book would be pre-k to sixth grade. I would definitely use this book in my classroom. I think a really fun activity to do with this book in the classroom would be for each student to pick a letter (an endangered animal) and do research on their animal, and make a poster/presentation of ways to help save their animal from extinction.

I read Tricks Animals Play by Jan Angel Clarkson. This book did not receive any major awards. This book is really interesting. This thing that stands out the most are the photographs that really make the book come to life. The photos are so clear and vivid. This book shows different animals and the ways they "trick" their enemies. Some ways shown in the book are playing dead, camouflage, showing bright colors, scales/shells, and bad smells. I would definitely use this book in my future classroom. I think the appropriate age group for this book would be kindergarten to sixth grade. Even if the younger grades can't read all the words yet, seeing the photographs of real animals is beneficial too. A great way to incorporate this in the classroom would be with science, but also mixing it with language arts. I think it would be fun for each group to do research on the different types of "tricks" animals use, and then create their own animal that uses that same trick. ...

I read Young Helen Keller: Woman of Courage. This book received no major awards. I think this is a great book to start to introduce the concept of biographies to students. This book walked through the life of Helen Keller from birth to adulthood while highlighting key moments along the way. This book was even informational for me because I didn't know the basics of Helen Keller's story. I think the appropriate age level for this book would be second grade to sixth grade. I would use this book in my classroom. I think an awesome project with this book would be for each student to pick their own person from A Troll First-Start Biography  series, and do a project that would be presented to the rest of the class. I think it would be awesome for each student to dive into the life of someone important in history, and be creative in the way they present their information. These type of projects are the ones I really remember from elementary school because I got to teach about my perso...

I read The Magic School Bus: At The Waterworks by Joanna Cole. This books received the 1989 Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award. I love how all the Magic School Bus  books take non-fiction content, and portray it in a fun, engaging, and creative way that kids can really appreciate and dive into. This specific Magic School Bus  book was about Ms. Frizzle's class learning about water. On just about every page there is a different fact about water. The class goes on a field trip by truly living life as water starting by being evaporated into the clouds, being rained down in water droplets, being purified, and coming out of the bathroom faucet. If only, as teachers, we could take our students on such engaging field trips. However, this book does a great job of pulling the reader in, and making science fun. I think the appropriate grade level for this book would be first grade to fourth grade. I would use this book in my classroom. A great unit to apply this book to in ...