Stop Pretending by Sonya Sones - Poetry

Stop Pretending is a creatively written book written by Sonya Sones that tells a story, written through poetry on each page. Stop Pretending focuses around the narrator's older sister who suffers from a mental breakdown on Christmas Eve forcing her to be hospitalized. Through her hospitalization, we see the narrator depict different days during her sister‘s placement in a mental-ward, describing how her family is dealing with it, and the struggles that it is bringing. Through its free verse the reader gets the chance to enjoy a uniquely written story with a depiction of how to deal with different stress’ that arise throughout one’s life.

Reading Level: 6.4

Vocabulary: Gauze, Omaha, weep, rambling, totaled (a car), confide, willow and synchronized.

Readers: Below are a few websites that could assist in the learning and teaching of this book!

This would be a great website to use with your students as it talks about the author and the book. One thing that I really liked is that it provided a button which lets you quickly add it to your “book list” online. This would be a great way to integrate technology and have students keep a record or log online of all the different books that they have read!

This website can provide the students with knowledge about the author along with the different types of books that she has written. Students might find that if they enjoyed this book, then they might find other books by her enjoyable as well and this would be a great website to have them connect with to learn more! 

Activities:

Pre-Reading:

Before reading “Stop Pretending” students should discuss with the teacher what a “free verse” is and how it makes it different than a regular poem. Students should have prior knowledge of poems and different techniques that are used such as metaphors and similes. 

During Reading:

While independently reading, students can take note of the different metaphors and similes that Sonya added throughout her book. After writing these techniques down, students can reflect on if they felt this helped strengthen the poem, and why.

After Reading:

Once finished, students can make a text-to-self connection and choose a story in their own life, and follow the writing format that Sonya did. Students can first write it out as a short narrative and then change it into 2-3 different poems, making sure they are telling the same story.

Sones, S. (2001). Stop pretending: what happened when my big sister went crazy / by Sonya Sones.. New York: Harpertempest.

Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson Read-a-loud 5-6

“Speak” is Anderson best known book winning many awards for her ability to talk about subjects that many other adults would not dare to talk about. Growing up Anderson has dealt with her own struggles, and her writings serve as a form of therapy for her to express herself and her thoughts. Throughout her books we can see her give her main characters similar therapeutic devices, such as Melinda in “Speak” who learns to express herself through her artwork. Depression, seclusion, and sexual assault are just some of the topics that come up throughout this book that the main character is struggling with. As Melinda learns to deal with these dark topics we see her find her voice and speak out and stand up for herself by the end of the book making it a great book for all students to read and learn that there is always hope.

Reading Level: 6.6

Vocabulary: Wheezes, waste case, orthodontia, indoctrination, fondly, morphing, monarch, and inconspicuous.

Readers: Below are a few websites that could assist in the learning and teaching of this book!

This is an excellent website the provides all different types of information on the book including the characters, and setting. Through the different links on the page, students can click on “theme” or “characters” and use this information to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the text!

This is also a great website to use in your classroom if your looking to extend the text. It talks about the author and other books that she has written, providing a link you can click on to gain more information. This would be a great website to use during an activity where students look at the writing style and voice that the author uses throughout her books.

Activities:

Pre-Reading:

Before students read “Speak” an initiation should be done where the student and teacher talk about the vocabulary and discuss it’s meaning in context to the book. Students could create a vocube to help themselves better understand what they will be reading.

During Reading:

While students are independantly reading, they can look for different ways that the main character is dealing with the stress in her life. Students can be scaffolded with questions such as “how does art play an important role in the book,” and “how do her friends help her overcome her obstacles?”

After Reading:

Once finished, students can make a text to self connection, and have an activity where they illustrate and depict a situation that they were once in that left them feeling stressed. How they dealt with it, can be compared to how Melinda dealt with her problems in “Speak.”

Anderson, L. H. (2006). Speak (Platinum ed.). London: Penguin Group.

Crispin: The Cross of Lead - Read a Loud

This story is about a 13 year old boy, Crispin, who is left alone in his village once his mother dies. During this time on his own, he turns to others to help him through this difficult time. His first friendship is with the priest of the village, who he turned to for help once he was accused of theft. Promising to help him, the priest handed him a lead cross that belonged to his mother and promises to tell him who his real father is. Before he can do that though, he is killed and Crispin is forced to flee the village in order to stay alive. Once he is in the woods he meets “Bear” who stays with him throughout his journey and helps protect him against Aycliff, and is the one to kill him in the end, letting Crispin let go of his burden and leave his mother’s cross on his grave.

Some vocabulary that might need to be pre-taught include alb, beseech, crone, hag, hoist, kin, putrid, screed, sustenance and wager.

This would be a good website to use in your classroom as it discusses the major themes, setting, and characters that come up throughout the book. This would allow you to be able to assist your students in better understanding what they are learning.

This is a great website that helps “extend” what your students read in class. It gives certain questions and activities that you can use with your students that would allow them to apply their knowledge and what they just learned while reading this book.

Pre Reading:
Students can talk about what a burden is and what it feels like to be “left alone.” This would give your students the opportunity to understand the feelings of the main character before they even begin reading.

During Reading:
Students can independantly read and write down how they see Crispin struggling, and who they see helping him through out the story. This would require your students to read carefully and analysis the chapters to understand what is going on.

After Reading:
For an after reading activity teacher’s can have their students work together to create a cartoon character online in which they can describe a certain scene or event that happened in the story. Also, to extended this, students could be asked to think how this story would have been different if it was told from another characters perspective, and to express their answer through a cartoon drawing as well.

Reading Level: 4.4

Crispin: the cross of lead. (2002). New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Happy face by Stephen Emond – Graphic Novel

Happy Face is a creatively written graphic novel that comes in the style of a “Diary” written by the main character, who is never actually given a name. Throughout the story we learn of his emotional baggage such as his alcoholic parents and the death of his brother. Through these events we see him become emotional de-attached from people, until he learns to confront his problems. Through his confrontation we see him break out his shell and turn his frown upside down, landing him the nickname of “Happyface!” Emond’s creative writing style and catchy book cover makes this an easy book to want to read, and continue reading!

Reading Level: 6.1

Readers: Below are a few websites that could assist in the learning and teaching of this book!

This is a great website that could be used in the classroom to assist the teaching of this book. It gives a quick overview, and summary of the book which could serve as a review for your students and it also provides different peoples opinions of the book. This would definitely help in a discussion that you are having of the book and keep the students focused.

This also is a great website to use in the classroom, as it gets your students interacting with text online and shows them how to create a blog, and how blogs can accomplish different things. This would be a great website to use as an initiation before having your students write their own summary of the book.

Some vocabulary that might need to be pre-taught include Juvenile, alcoholic, alienation, distance (in context), reinvent, judgment, and revealed.

Activities:

Pre-Reading:

Before reading it would be beneficial to talk with your students about different transitions such as moving from one place to another, or moving from middle school and high school. Through this discussion you can talk about what they might worry about and then explain that this is what the character in Happyface is facing.

During Reading:

While independently reading, students can look for the different themes that exist throughout the book and what has happened that is making it difficult for “Happyface” to be happy. Ask you students to look for, and take note of what changes, allowing the main character to finally be happy at the end.

After Reading:

After students have read the book, students can use the notes they took during the during reading activity and come up with three questions. Once these three questions are made, they can swap papers with a partner and answer the new questions that were made. This gives the students the opportunity to make questions, and answer them in the same lesson! 

Emond, S. (2010). Happyface. Boston: Little, Brown And Co..

Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper - Choice List

This story follows Melody Brooks, a fifth grader who suffers from cerebral palsy. Due to her condition we see her struggle throughout her middle school years and learn to deal with the circumstances that this disability has left her with. With limited mobility and verbal capabilities, Melody has difficulties expressing herself but through her loving parents, and special education teacher, Mrs. V, we see Melody gain a voice through her new “medi-talker.” Through this device, Melody is allowed to come out of her shell and express herself in a way never possible to her before and prove that she is just as strong as anyone else, despite being labeled as disabled.

Reading Level: 4.2

Readers: Below are a few websites that could assist in the learning and teaching of this book!

This is a website that should be looked at by the teacher and students before reading the book. It talks about what cerebral palsy is, and will be able to help your students better understand what Melody, the main character is going through.

Here is another great website that can be used in the classroom. This gives a short review of what happened in the story and then provides several links that can lead the reader to lesson plans, reviews, and autobiographical information on the author herself!

Some vocabulary that might need to be pre-taught include Agenda, cardinal, crumpled, evaluation, flailing, irritated, profoundly, swiftly and yakking.

Activities:

Pre-Reading:

Before reading it would be good to use the website listed above that talks about what cerebral palsy is, and have a discussion with your students about it. This website can be projected onto the screen and students can ask questions on things that they might not understand about this disability.

During Reading:

While your students are independently reading they can do a “compare and contrast” list where they can look at how Melody was before her medi-talker, and how she changed after her medi talker.

After Reading:

Once students are finished reading the book they can write a story called “in her shoes” where they extended their knowledge that they learned through reading Out of my Mind, and apply it to a short story where they write about how they think they would react and feel if they were in Melody’s shoes.

Draper, S. M. (2010). Out of my mind. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm - Choice List

Turtle in Paradise is a book taking place in 1935 during the great depression that focuses around the main character, Turtle, who struggles with the circumstances that this time era has placed her in. Due to shortages of jobs, her mother is forced to take almost anything that is offered to her. This creates a problem when she is hired to be a housekeeper, but is told that kids are not allowed. From this situation, Turtle finds herself moving in with her relatives in Florida where she has to learn to fit in and become acquainted with new surroundings. Through moving, we see Turtle begin to “come out of her shell” as she experiences things she could have never imagined!

Reading Level: 3.6

Readers: Below are a few websites that could assist in the learning and teaching of this book!

This is a great website that could be used in the classroom as it offers several other links that go into depth and discuss the characters, themes and value of the book.

This also would be a great website for a teacher to look at when interested in teaching a lesson regarding this book as it suggest ideas and different questions that you can ask your students. Also, it gives you different ideas on how you can extended this lesson into another subject with links that can lead you to specific lesson plans on Turtle in Paradise.

Some vocabulary that might need to be pre-taught include battered, blobs, exterior, fraying, fella, heap, hinges, slugged, and vines,

Activities:

Pre-Reading:
An activity that should take place before reading this story would be to talk with your students and figure of what they know about the great depression. A good way to reinforce this would be to create a KWL chart and have students write on the board what they “know” and what they “want to learn.”

During Reading:
Students can read independantly chapter by chapter and be asked to write down specific things that they learned. These can then be added to their KWL chart after they are done reading the book!

After Reading:
Pairs of students can be given a big sheet of paper along with markers and colored pencils and be told to write their KWL chart here along with pictures that might be appropriate. After this activity is done, each pair can share what they did with the class, and these can be hung up around the rooms for all to see!

Holm, J. L. (2010). Turtle in paradise. New York: Random House.

The Firefly Letters by Margarita Engle - Diversity

"Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common. Celebrate it every day."

This was a great book that focuses around three girls journey during the 1850’s to try and achieve freedom for themselves. Engle gives us different perspectives as it starts off with Fredrika who is the main character of the story, and then Elena, the daughter of the magistrate who is hosting Frederika, Cecilia who is the young slave and lastly, Beni who is Cecilia's husband. Through their journey in Cuba the reader can see how three very different girls break the walls of language and cultures to become friends with each other, helping one another grow in the process! A great message for all of this books readers to benefit from J

Reading Level: 4.4

Readers: Below are a few websites that could assist in the learning and teaching of this book!

- This would be a good website to use in the classroom to help explain to students how back 100/200 years ago, women did not have as many freedoms as men. This website would be able to describe the women’s movement and would be a great pre-teaching website to use in a lesson before reading the book.

 - This is also a good website to use with your students as it can be a review of what they learned after reading the book. It has different questions along with a summary which can help keep them on tract!

Vocabulary:

Activities:

Pre Reading:

The teacher and students can talk about what rights and privileges everyone has now-a-days and how that wasn’t always the case for those who lived before us. The website that I listed above would be a good reference to use in this discussion!

During Reading:

Students will independently read and write down different liberties that they see Fredrika and the other characters not have that they have today (this can then lead into the after reading activity.)

After Reading:

Students can choose two or three of the freedoms that they noticed didn’t exist “back in the day” and research how they came to be freedoms that they have. This would be a great learning experience for the students and could cross over to be used as a history lesson as well!

Engle, M. (2010). The firefly letters: a suffragette's journey to Cuba. New York: Henry Holt And Co..