Poetry- Puzzles From Wonderland- From: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and other Stories By: Lewis Carroll

Do you have students who like to think they are just SO much smarter than you? Or maybe you have children who just need a challenge? If you want to give your students a good brain teaser, you should let them try to figure out the riddles to the great Wonderland. Pages 733-736 of this collection feature all of Carroll's riddles found in his Wonderland tales and his answers. My favorite riddle is the second which is about dividing a stick into eight equal pieces. The poem reads: 

"A stick I found that weighed two pound:

I sawed it up one day

In pieces eight of equal weight!

How much did each piece weigh?

(Everybody says 'a quarter of a pound', which is wrong.)"

At this point in my classroom, I would have written this poem on the board, and told my children to give me an answer. To me, the point of this exercise isn't that children find the right answer. My purpose in having them respond is to have them think creatively. I would have them write their answers, and explain how they came to that answer in a couple of sentences. An example of a proper response could be...

" I think they weighed 114 grams each because Lewis Carroll was British and the British use the metric system. He was insulted that people would put the answer in the traditional measurements because he dislikes Americans and finds the base 10 measurement style of the metric system easier to operate in anyway!"

Obviously, this is the wrong answer. During Carroll's day they still used the traditional system of measurement. But I know that my student is thinking hard when they are trying to figure out why a quarter of a pound is the wrong answer. You will see two things when I give you the correct answer. A) you will see that no child, unless they have memorized the books of Lewis Carroll, would come up with exactly the correct answer, and B) that the thoughtful answers that they came up with are more useful to them in daily life and show how intelligent they truly are.

Answer: 

" In Shylock's bargain for the flesh I found

No mention of the blood that flowed around:

So when the stick was sawed in eight,

The sawdust lost diminished from the weight."

Did you answer correctly? I didn't think so. I would use these puzzles to get my kids brains thinking on a high cognitive level. Hopefully, telling them that these puzzles are part of a really great book, they will want to go out and read Carroll's classics as well. Obviously, these puzzles are great examples of poetry as well. 

Poetry- Poetry for Young People By: Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg is a famous poet of the 1900s. His work is renown, and I even remember reading some of his poetry in my freshman english course here at NC State. This collection of poems, edited by Frances Schoonmaker Bolin and illustrated by Steven Arcella, is appropriate for children in upper elementary and middle school to understand. Most of them are short in length, and the vocabulary is common. It is very difficult to introduce children to poetry, mainly because we do not understand it as adults ourselves. Poetry isn't bound by the same molds that other modes of literature are restricted by. This book has some very short, simple poems that young children can be introduced to build their understanding of the purpose and intent of poetry. Something that was hard for me to learn about poetry was that not everybody had to rhyme or even have a rhythm scheme. The only poetry I was exposed to as an elementary reader was Dr. Seuss. Good examples to use with elementary age children that are found in this book include "Theme in Yellow" and "We Must Be Polite". It is easy for children to imagine and understand what the speaker, Sandburg, is talking about. "Theme in Yellow" is about the life of a Jack-O-Lantern, while "We Must Be Polite" is about using please and thank you, and other good manners, even around strangers. This is also a good book to use because of some of the nature poems. In the fourth grade, social studies focuses in on North Carolinian history. Sandburg spent the last few years of his life writing poetry in North Carolina. It might be a good idea to have children read such poems as " Between Two Hills", "Sheep", "Landscape", or "October Paint", and have them brainstorm where and when in North Carolina might these poems have been set. The poetry found in this collection is both appropriate for elementary school children, and it has connections to other subjects taught in the upper elementary grades. 

Modern Fantasy- Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger By: Louis Sachar

This is the second installment of Louis Sachar's hilarious tale of the adventures of Wayside School. You can say that the children are coming off of a 243 day long vacation (that's how long it took to get rid of the cows) and are ready to start a new year. With every floor, which is only one classroom, there is a new adventure to be read and enjoyed. The food in the cafeteria can still be confused for toxic waste, make sure to stop by the pet fair on the 30th floor, and be careful when walking under the windows. You don't want to get hit by a coffeepot, and mess up Mrs. Drazil's science experiment. As usual, the real tale of the story begins and ends on Mrs. Jewls floor/room. Mrs. Jewls announces to her class that she is going to have a baby. They try to make the best of this news by brainstorming names for the baby. Which do you like better; Cootie Face or Bucket Head? What her class is not excited about is losing Mrs. Jewls while she is out with the baby. This means a substitute is coming, and you know that that cannot be good...

This is one of my favorite books of ALL time! It doesn't matter if I teach Kindergarten or 6th grade, my children will have this book read to them before they leave my room. It is so funny, and has lots of fun puzzles and mysteries for the children to solve while reading. This is a book that I know my children will get excited about reading, and by reading it, I will hopefully be encouraging them to find books that they enjoy to read. Activities that I would pair with reading this book are prediction worksheets, acting out scenes from the book, and of course letting them complete some of the fun activities (like the gravity experiment mentioned above) that these children do in their classroom. 

Modern Fantasy-Matilda By: Roald Dahl

          The parents of five-and-a-half-year-old Matilda Wormwood have no interest in their daughter, but if they did, they would discover that she is incredibly gifted. Matilda learned to read at age 3, though the only actual book in the house was a cookbook and magazines. When she asks for a real book for herself, her father rudely turns her down and tells her to watch television instead. In spite of this, Matilda looks up the address of the local library, where she finishes all the children's books within a short time. Matilda resolves to teach her parents a lesson every time they do something wrong, carrying out a variety of pranks. Miss Honey, the closest thing that Matilda has to a parental figure, appeals to Miss Trunchbull to have Matilda moved up into an advanced class, but the child-hating headmistress refuses. Miss Honey also tries, in vain, to reason with Mrs. Wormwood, but she is not welcomed, and both parents make it clear that they are not interested either in Matilda or the value of education and learning. Matilda quickly learns of Trunchbull's capacity for punishing children, as she carries out cruelties for minor reasons. When Matilda's friend Lavender places a newt in Trunchbull's glass of water, Matilda is blamed and Trunchbull refuses to listen to her. Mad about her friend's punishment, Matilda soon discovers she has psychokinetic powers, as she focuses on the glass with her eyes, and surprises everyone by tipping it over right on to Miss Trunchbull. This is the first of Matilda's exciting adventures due to her mysterious mind powers. 

         I would read this book with my children when doing a unit on modern fantasy texts. Matilda is a child that is misunderstood and underestimated (which is something that I know ALL of my students can relate to). While reading the book, I will have children keep a chart where they write events that happen to Matilda and the other characters that they think could happen in real life, and things that could not. By doing this, my children will be able to more easily separate events in a book that are considered fantasy over reality. Surprisingly, I have learned that kids in upper elementary have a hard time with this. 

Modern Fantasy- Abel's Island By: William Steig

          As the book begins, Abel, a mouse, is enjoying a picnic with his wife Amanda, but they are interrupted by a fierce rainstorm and are forced to take shelter in a cave nearby. The two are separated when Abel braves the storm to retrieve Amanda's scarf, blown away by a gust of wind. The storm washes Abel into a river and he is swept downstream until he is stranded on an island. Abel attempts to escape the island many times, but fails, and finally realizes that he must survive on the island by himself. He finds a log and makes it his home in the winter. To ease his loneliness, he creates his family out of clay and talks to them. Poor Abel has to live through the most hardest times, including battling an owl and surviving through a harsh winter. Later in the novel, another stranded victim from the river, a frog named Gower, comes and befriends Abel. Later, he leaves promising that he will send for help when he gets back home. However, weeks pass and no one comes. Gower either forgot (due to his lack of memory), or he never made it back. Abel then decides to swim against the fierce river after the water level has dropped sufficiently. Abel eventually makes the hard trip back and returns to Mossville, where he is reunited with his beloved Amanda.

           I love this story because it is an easy and exciting read. It is a great example of a fantasy with animals as characters. I have just gotten around to reading this book myself, but it was very popular to read when the movie "Castaway" with Tom Hanks was in the theaters. A lot of things that happened to Tom Hank's character also happen to Abel when he is stranded on the island. Upon completion of this book, I would have my kids write a funny instruction manual on how to survive being stranded on an island. I would then have them compare manuals and we would create a class survival manual every year. Of course I would finish up our time with this book by allowing my students to watch the clip from "Castaway" where the main character has created his friend Wilson, like Abel creates his family out of clay. 

Realistic Fiction-Sixth Grade Secrets By: Louis Sachar

         Laura's is a sixth grade girl surrounded by secrets. She decides that she will no longer by the victim of  this situation, so she creates her own club. She names it after Pig City, the funny hat she wears that she often gets picked on about wearing. To keep her club exclusive Laura makes her members tell her each an embarrassing story about themselves that she keeps as collateral if they betray the secret club. She promises to keep each members "collateral" secret if and only if they keep their mouth shut about "Pig City". Laura decides to recruit a quiet kid named Gabriel to the group. She thinks this is a good idea because he obviously knows how to keep his mouth shut. However, upon being asked, Gabriel decides to form his own secret society "Monkey Town". How will two secret societies manage to survive one year of sixth grade? 

      This book is very much like Andrew Clements book No Talking in the sense that it is another Boys vs. Girls battle gone overboard. I would read this book as a fun read aloud when their is spare time in the classroom. I think it is important to read this text because students need to understand that reading is supposed to be about enjoyment just as much about learning. Activities that could go along with this book are creative writing exercises. I would read the book and stop at a "cliff hanger". Once I stopped, I would have my children predict what they think is going to happen next and I would have them write evidence from what we have read already to support this prediction. 

Non-fiction Horses: Smithsonian Handbook By:Elwyn Hartley Edwards

        This non-fictional book is done in an informational style format. It tells the reader everything they need to know about equine. It starts out by introducing relatives to the horse like donkeys, mules, and zebras, then goes into the breeds of horses. This book is great for a child who is interested in horses, but has no science background knowledge on them. It has great pictures and supports to help a chid read through the book with little frustration. It also uses language that is appropriate for an upper elementary student to understand. 

         I would use this book in my classroom when we are doing a science unit on animal classification. This book does a great job of showing how horses are classified scientifically. Most kids are interested in horses, but they don't know a lot about the different breeds and sizes like they do domesticated animals like cats and dogs. This book does a good job at showing the diversity of one species in the animal kingdom. After reading this book, I would have my students pick one breed of horse and do a glogster on what they learned about them from web searches. This book is a great way of introducing non-fiction literature in an non-intimidating way to young students. 

Historical Fiction- The Secret Garden By: Frances Hodgson Burnett

       Spoiled rotten and mean-tempered, newly orphaned Mary Lennox is uprooted from India and sent to England to live in the mansion of her uncle, Archibald Craven. On his estate in Yorkshire, she discovers a hidden garden, long  abandoned and locked up. With help of Dickon, a local boy Mary begins to tend the garden, determined to bring it back into full bloom. The Secret Garden, in turn, transforms her and everyone else who enters it. 

       I have read this book multiple times growing up. Something that I had a hard time understanding when I read it was how come she was white and lived in India. I didn't understand this because I had no historical frame of reference for what was going on in India during the time this book was written. During this time, India wasn't and independent country. It was over British rule. Which meant that people from England ran the important industries for the country. This is why Mary grew up there. I would have my children do a side project on the history of India during this time period, and what it meant that India was under British rule. This is how I would bring historical context to the literature being covered in my classroom. 

Multicultural/International Literature: The Diary of a Young Girl By: Anne Frank

           Anne’s diary begins on her thirteenth birthday, and ends shortly after her fifteenth. The Franks had moved to the Netherlands in the years leading up to World War II to escape persecution in Germany. After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, the Franks were forced into hiding. With another family, the van Daans, and an acquaintance, Mr. Dussel, they moved into a small secret annex above Otto Frank’s office where they had stockpiled food and supplies. The employees from Otto’s firm helped hide the Franks and kept them supplied with food, medicine, and information about the outside world. Anne eventually develops a close friendship with Peter van Daan, the teenage boy in the annex. Mr. Frank does not approve, however, and the intensity of Anne’s infatuation begins to lessen. Anne matures considerably throughout the course of her diary entries, moving from detailed accounts of basic activities to deeper, more profound thoughts about humanity. She finds it difficult to understand why the Jews are being singled out and persecuted. During the two years recorded in her diary, Anne deals with the complicated and difficult issues of growing up in the brutal circumstances of the Holocaust. Anne’s diary ends  on August 1, 1944, the end of a seemingly normal day that leaves us with the expectation of seeing another entry on the next page. However, the Frank family is betrayed to the Nazis and arrested on August 4, 1944. 

           I think that this is a very important text that children should read at LEAST once during their pubic schooling. This is obviously a very authentic example of multicultural and international literature. In this text, children get to empathize with a young Jewish girl who lives in Europe during Nazi reign. I would use this book to discuss the horrors of the holocaust to my children. I don't think that children see the holocaust as a real thing until they see what a child, like Anne, went through. I would definitely do activities like talking back to the text and group discussions to get kids to respond to this text on an emotional level. If they learn no literacy skills from reading this text, I hope that they learn about how dangerous race and other types of discrimination can be in our society. 

Traditional/Folk Literature- The Frog Prince By: Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales

          Have you ever had to be nice to someone who you didn't like because of their gross habits or scary appearance? Was it your parents who made you be nice to them, because they said, "It was the right thing to do?" Well, in this young tale a princess learns why it is so important to be nice to those who would typically gross us out. This tale is the origin of a classic fairy tale that has recently be readapted into a Disney classic. In this tale, there is no kissing to release the spell of the wicked witch, rather it is just kindness and fulfilling a promise that releases the prince from his amphibious state. Once he is turned back into a prince, he marries the young princess and they live happily ever after. 

        When reading this story during our fairy tale unit, I will make sure to talk about how fairy tales have changed overtime. In this story, the frog is changed back into a prince when the princess agrees to let him sleep in her room that night. In the classic tale that most of us have heard, it takes "true love's kiss" to change the frog back into a prince. Changing of tales overtime is something that has commonly happened with Grimm's works. Many believed they are changed like this to reflect and include more positive morals. During the time of the Grimm's, marriage was still a very arranged situation. Love had little to do with who you married. This would have been even more true during the time that this story took place. In our society, we value love and romance as the most important virtues into choosing who to marry. This is perhaps why "true love's kiss" is now necessary for the frog to change into a prince. I would have my kids talk about any experiences they can think of when an old tale has been changed in modern work, and why they think it was changed. 

Traditional/Folklore Literature: The Elves From: Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales

      Has a sock ever gone missing in your drawer? Probably. Have you ever stayed somewhere a short period of time, and time gotten away with you? OF COURSE. But, have you ever had you tedious annoying project finish itself overnight for you? Most likely you haven't been lucky enough too. If these things have happened to you before, maybe you should consider that elves are behind it. That is what the great Brother's Grimm would want you to believe. In their chapter on Elves we learn of three tales of Elf sightings. The first features a cobbler who never has to finish a pair of shoes for himself. The second tales of a young maid who went on a trip to visit elves, thought she spent three days with them, and instead spent 7 years of her life partying with them. The final tale is of elves replacing a young child with a Changeling and the extremes that the mother goes to, to get her child back. 

        This would be one of the tales that I would read during my fairy tale/folklore unit. This is a great way to introduce my children to the idea that some creatures are always seen as being up to no good. Hopefully, children can make connections to how the elves in this story relate to elves in other famous works, movies, or TV shows. A good example of this is house elves in Harry Potter. When you give a house elf clothing, like in the cobbler's tale, they are freed and no longer indentured to service. An activity that I would have my students do after reading this story is have them reenact these stories in groups of 3 to 5. I would record the entries, and of course embarrass them about them later. I want them to realize how the smallest creatures in fairy tales can be the ones that cause the most mischief. 

Non-Fiction Biography: Brothers Grimm By: Jane Yolen

This Glogster is used to represent some of the information my students would learn about the Grimm brother's and how they wrote their fairy tales. This biographical information is found in the begging of their complete works complied by Barnes and Noble. 

Brother's Grimm Glogster

Multicultural/International Literature: The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

Wordle: The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

          I used wordle with this book because it has a lot of common themes that children need to learn are typical of multicultural and international literature. This book is about a young chinese girl who moves to America to live with her dad. It also discusses racial prejudices when talking about Jackie Robinson playing in the major leagues. By completing a wordle, my students will hopefully see words that support treating others fairly despite origin or race.

Historical Fiction/Traditional Literature Just Ella By: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Just Ella By: Margaret Peterson Haddix
Historical Fiction/Traditional Literature


                 ... And they all lived happily ever after. The End? WRONG. At least for this Cinderella Wannabe. Like Cinderella, Ella faces ridicule by her step family daily, she goes to the ball, sweeps Prince Charming off of his feet, and is chosen to be his bride. This is where her tale in the story begins. Every day is filled with the joys of being a future queen. Unfortunately, Ella doesn't love learning latin, embroidery, or how to be dependent upon one's servants. Prince Charming turned out to be Prince Boring who admitted to proposing to her just because she was beautiful. She realizes that being royal isn't all it is cracked up to be. Problems for Ella get much worse when she realizes that she is falling for another man. She wishes to break off her engagement to the Prince, but it seems that that will only occur over her dead body. Getting a happily ever after in this story is going to be much harder for Ella than it originally seemed. 

             I would assign this book as one of the optional reading books that children would be assigned to read when completing a unit on fairy-tales and folklore. All of their options would be modern day or twisted versions of fairy tales that they grew up hearing. When finishing up the unit, my students would be assigned a project where they are assigned to compare the novel they chose to read to it's original or more popular tale. 

Realistic Fiction- Joey Pigza Loses Control By: Jack Gantos

Joey Pigza Loses Control By: Jack Gantos
Realistic Fiction


           Joey Pigza Loses Control is an account of Joey's  summer vacation with his dead beat father. Joey has ADD and uses a patch on his arm to control it. The new medication is helping Joey settle down and think. Meds have helped Joey start anew.but upon arriving at his dad's, Joey realizes his Dad is just like a grown up version of himself, but without the medicine. Carter Pigza is excited to get have this chance to bond with his son, and wants to make his son a winner. he believes that winners don't need medicine. So the first order of business is to flush all of Joey's medicine down the toilet and get Joey's world-class pitching arm on his baseball team. Both of which he does. The rest of the story is about Joey slowing losing what little control he had over his behavior without the patch. Things go south quickly, and Dad is of no help to Joey. Joeys burning desire to please his dad is the chief conflict here, because even Joey can sense his dad is making dangerous decisions.  This is a wonderfully written novel that will make your reader think, and give him a birds eye, empathic view of children without stable family units and children struggling with ADD.

       This is a book that I would read at the begging of the year when we are all getting to know each other. All of my students will be different, and all of them will come in with learning differences. I want my students to respect each other, and I feel as if hearing Joey's story will allow them to see what it is like to be different. This book will hopefully encourage my more advanced students to be more patient with those who struggle and encourage all of my students to be respectful of each other. While reading this book, we would have group discussions on how to treat others with respect, especially those with learning disabilities. 

Realistic Fiction- No Talking By: Andrew Clements

No Talking By: Andrew Clements
Realistic Fiction


           No Talking by Andrew Clements is a novel about a boy vs. girl competition that goes too far! The main character, Dave, is reading a book about Gandhi and is intrigued by his vow of silences. He wonders if he is capable of doing the same thing. He starts his experiment on his own. After having to cough his way through a book report, he is questioned about his motives by a girl in his class named Lynsey. She thinks that his challenge to remain silent is stupid. The insults lead to the entire grade participating in a vow of silence for 2 whole days. It is the boys vs. the girls in a "no talking" contest. The team with the least amount of words said wins at the end of day 2. The teachers and the administrators are obviously confused and frustrated by what is going on. The teachers learn ways around the students challenge, while the principal tries to shut down the contest altogether. Who would have thought that teachers would complain about having quiet, compliant children? 

         I would use this book in my classroom as a fun read. We could read this book before/after lunch when we had some free time. I know that the major activity that would come out of reading this book would be that the children would want to try the experiment or "quiet game" themselves. We would set up our own rules and guidelines of how much talking and when talking was acceptable. After doing the experiment, I would have my students compare their experience to that of the children in Clements' book. 

A MIllion Fish... More or Less By: Patricia C. McKissach

Multi-Cultural/ International Literature: 
"A Million Fish... More or Less" by Patricia C. Mckissach


             "A Million Fish... More or Less" by Patricia C. McKissach is a tale about a young boy's adventure through the Bayou Clapateaux. Hugh, the young boy, starts his day by running into his father and another male figure in his life at the edge of the Bayou. The two men tell Hugh a story of finding treasure in the Bayou and having to give it up because of all of the elements of the Bayou turning on them. Hugh dismisses this story as a tall tale and leaves them to go fishing. One can say that he is having a good day, seeing as he caught nearly 1 million fish. The story really gets interesting when the creatures of the Bayou decide they are more deserving of the fish than Hugh. When he returns home, no one believes his story, seeing as he only came home with 3 fish. Was Hugh a victim of the Bayou, or a really good story teller like his father and uncle? 

             This would be a very interesting book to read in close connection with learning American History. This book is a very good example of French influence and African-American culture in the South. I think this book is a great representation of the time period and cultures it represents. The language and dialogue that the author uses is very realistic to the people who lived on the Bayou at the time of the setting. The author and illustrator also do a good job of including common motifs that are important to the African American culture in this part of the country. This book would also be a good read when teaching children the archetypical characteristics of a tall tale. There are two possible tall tales in this story. A good activity would be for the children to write there own tall tale about what would happen if they went on an adventure in the "closest" wilderness to them.