Cows in the House

Cows in the House by Beverly Lewis is a wonderful book that can bring a cultural aspect into your classroom. This story is about a young boy that lives with his 5 "quarreling sisters" and his parents. He becomes annoyed with the constant fighting and decides to ask his wise old grandfather what he should do. Over the span of three trips to his grandfather and back home, he is told to bring 2 cows, 5 cousins, and a wedding band into his house. On his forth trip to his grandfather he is ecstatic to hear that he can make the cows, cousins, and band leave. After doing this he realizes how peaceful and spacious the house is even with his sisters. 

 This story teaches children to be thankful for what they have and realize that it can always be worse. You could pair it with an english lesson around Thanksgiving. Another good aspect of this book is the vocabulary. The author uses words like Pangung, an Indian scarf, and baht, an Indian from of currency. 

It's interesting to see how the author doesn't name her characters. The main character is "young boy" and everyone else goes by "mother" or "father" or "grandfather." You could discuss with your class that different cultures also have different writing styles.

Overall great book to read to your students!

The Three-Legged Cat

This week, the book I picked for book talk was The Three-Legged Cat by Margaret Mahy. This book is a wonderful story about Tom, a three-legged cat who lives with the uptight Daisy Gimble. Ms. Gimble wishes that Tom would sleep more and eat less. Tom on the other hand wishes to explore the world like Ms. Gimble's wandering brother Danny. When Danny comes to visit, with his God-awful orange and molting Russian hat, he accidentally leaves with Tom on his head and his hat is left "sleeping" quietly on Ms. Gimble's couch. When Danny figures out what happens, He is filled with joy at the thought of having not only a warmer hat, but a companion for his adventures and Tom is ecstatic at the thought of his dream of adventure being fulfilled. Likewise, Ms. Gimble is much happier having a cat that only sleeps and can not "eat her out of house and home."

The literary elements in this book are easy to find.

Point of View: The book is being read in the point of view of a narrator.
Setting: Varies; It begins in Ms. Gimble's house, ends in different parts of the world.
Characters: There are three main characters: Tom, Daisy Gimble and Danny Gimble.
Plot: Tom wants to go on an adventure. Danny, Ms. Gimble's adventurous brother comes by unexpectedly. He accidentally leaves with Tom on his head instead of his hat. All of the characters are much happier with the switch of the hat for the cat.
Theme: Don't judge a book by it's cover (an adventurous three-legged cat) and always follow your dreams.

I found a lesson plan that can go with this book from Weston Woods that has a couple of great ideas of how to incorporate this into multiple subjects in the classroom. In addition I wanted to include the a little movie representation of the book as well. Enjoy! :)

Lesson Plan from Weston Woods                                            

Land of Sweet Surprises

"Far away and yet among us lies a country all have seen. Cloudless skies and golden woodlands,silver waters, meadows green; And the voices of the city, and the sounds of toil and strife Never reach that lovely country, never spoil its happy life; And its roses bloom forever, and its gold has no alloy,For the Land of Sweet Surprises is the children's world of joy." 

 

The Land of Sweet Surprises is a reproduction of "Antique Book" by Ernest Nister. It is a compilation of easy-to-read poems for what I would say a third or fourth grade class. Another aspect that compliments this book is the unique set up for the illustrations. Each illustration is in the shape of a circle with a tab on the bottom of it. When you move the tab forward, the picture turns into a new picture, and back, the picture turns back into the original. Each poem is about silly things like a cat breaking a jar or two little girls wanting a squirrel as a pet. Included in this book is:

• Land of Sweet Surprises
• The Jar of Roses
• Declined with Thanks
• Two Pictures
• The Chick
• Baby Dear

This is an awesome book to incorporate into the classroom environment. It is considered in the genre of poetry and is an amazing starter for students just learning what poetry is. It has examples of poems that rhyme and do not rhyme and I think that is an important aspect to touch on as well. As a teacher, you could do a creative writing exercise in which you read the poem to them and ask them to write a paragraph or so on what they think the poem is about. In addition to learning about rhyming, there are some good examples of onomatopoeia, the use of word(s) that imitate the sound it denotes, in "The Chick" and personification, attribution of human motives or behaviors to impersonal agencies (things) in "Declined with Thanks."All in all this book would be a wonderful addition to an English lesson because of the many aspects of poetry and the beautiful illustrations that come with it.

The Girl Who Loved Coyotes: Stories of the Southwest

This week for book talk I read The Girl Who Loved Coyotes by Nancy Wood. This book is full of not only learning opportunities for the classroom but also some cultural influence. It is made up of 12 ancient Native American Stories passed on through the years.

-The Girl Who Loved Coyotes                                     -Sun Mother and Moon Mother
-How Coyote Got His Song                                          -The Animal Convention
-How the Coyotes Lost Their Voices                           -The Rainbow Bridge
-How the Girl Taught the Coyotes to Sing Harmony    -How Eagle Learned to See
-How Coyote Married the Girl                                      -White Buffalo Girl
-The coyote Who Became a Star                                   -The Bear Who Courted the Farmer's Daughter

All of these stories promote an awareness of a different culture and, like I said before, learning opportunities. In each of the stories, there are a few Spanish words. They're easy ones like "familia" and "padre" but provide for a unique opportunity to touch on Spanish vocabulary. Another easy link you can make to this book is with an art lesson. The writing is so imaginative and colorful, asking your students to draw a picture for one of these stories would be a fun! The main teaching advantage point would be talking about the Anasazi and Pueblo Indians from whom these stories came. I found a link that has a print out of a brief history on the Anasazi for grades 2-5. Hope you enjoy!

Learn about the Anasazi Here

The Frog Prince

Hello All,
The first book I did for our book talks was The Frog Prince by The Brothers Grimm. This story tells of a princess that loses her favorite ball by accidentally dropping it down a well. A frog promises that he will get it for her as long as she lets him eat dinner with him and sleep in her luxurious bed for three nights. She agrees, however as soon as he gets her ball, She forgets about the promise and leaves the frog at the well. He shows up for dinner that night, and she is disgusted that he father makes her keep her promise to the yucky frog. Over time, she becomes fond of the frog and doesn't mind him so much. One morning, the frog is not there when the princess wakes up. When she looks around she finds a prince in his place. He tells her that because of her kindness in letting him stay with her, a spell put on him by an evil witch was broken. Like in most fairytales, he takes her back to his kingdom and marries her.
This book was a good book for first or second grade because it's a well known book and has plenty of topics to talk and learn about. First the that you can't judge someone before you give them a chance and second, to keep your promises. I am a sucker for fairy tales. I love books like this because, like most books, they give you a chance to escape to a magical world in which we can escape and pretend. It promotes an imagination and imagination is key to childhood.

I'm including some fun activities to do with students that correlates this book into curriculum. I got it from the website Lesson Planet. Enjoy! :)   Click Here For Activities!

Until next time, have a good week!