Historic Sites and Monuments

Nonfiction:
The Rourke Guide to State Symbols: Historic Sites and Monuments 


The Rourke Guide to Historic Sites and Monuments is and informational, nonfiction text that goes through a national historic site found in every state of the US. For example, on page 9 the featured State is Colorado and the historic site that the book discusses is Mesa Verde National Park. It then goes on to describe each site. On the Mesa Verde, the book tells us that cowboys discovered the dwellings over 100 years ago, and that they were believed to be inhabited by the Anasazi Indian Tribe. Scientists say that some of the ruins are almost 1,400 years old. It does the same format for every state listed in alphabetical order. Other sites included in the book were Yosemite National Park, Saint Augustine, the French Quarter, Plymouth Rock, my favorite in the book the Replica of the Amistad, and many more. 
This book is very informational and a lot to take in all at once. If I were to teach this book in my future classroom, I would allow a child a day to read about one of the sites before lunch or during another awkward transition. At the end of the week, I would have all of the children write me a couple of sentences about what they learned about a national historic site that week. Towards the end of the year, or after getting all of the way through the book, I would allow each child to pick its favorite historic site and do more research on the topic. From their research they would make a poster describing what they learned about that site.