Miss Fox's Class Goes Green
By: Eileen Spinelli
Spinelli, E. (2011). Miss Fox's Class Goes Green. Albert Whitman & Co.
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/books/miss-fox-s-class-goes-green-by-eileen-spinelli/
More About the Book and Author Found here!
Genre: Children's Fiction
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Summary:
This story is about a teacher who makes the decision to go green, which leads to her heavily impacting her students, and soon the whole school! Many of the children partake in activities to help keep the Earth healthy, such as recycling, reusing and saving energy. The story provides a plethora of ideas for kids to kick start their own "green" habits! It is super encouraging because it allows students to see that they, too, can make an impact just as Miss Fox does!
Target Audience:
The target audience for this story is for children between the ages of 4 and 8, and the Readability Lexile is a 470L. This book could work for a variety of ages because of the multiple conservation options, therefore it provides children in how they can help keep Earth healthy! I think that the text is fairly simple though, therefore younger kids would probably enjoy it more.
Evaluating the Story:
This is a picture book, and based on Donna Norton's characteristics of high quality literature, it delivers the message of the story well. The concepts are appropriate, well explained, and straight forward, and the illustrations correlate well with the text. The illustrations are very detailed, so a child would be able to conclude much of the plot just by viewing the images, however it is still complimented well with the story itself. The theme of this story is conservation, and it is important to note because it relates to children's needs of keeping our home healthy. The book also avoids stereotypes of race and sex as well, and the characters are composed of a variety of different species of animals. I think this allows children to view them as they would their classmates, because everybody is unique and the differences between them all does not stand in between their ultimate goal of going green.
Reader Response Activity:
For this activity, I created a table that asks children whether something is considered green/Eco-friendly or not. On the bottom of the paper, they are asked to cut out each picture and glue it on which side of the table they think it belongs. Before hand, I suggest going over the pictures with them to ensure that they understand what is happening. I think that this activity works well with the book because it reiterates the ideas the students within the story had, and serves as a visual learning tool for them to learn from and look back on. Another activity you could do with this could be to make one master copy of this worksheet, laminate it, cut and laminate the pictures, and use it as an activity/game for a work group. The kids would need to place the pictures on the worksheet, and once they are done other groups can use it, too (plus, it is saving paper 😉).
One Plastic Bag:
Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia
By: Miranda Paul
Paul, Miranda. (2015). One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesat and the Recycling Women of the Gambia. Millbrook Press.
https://www.amazon.com/One-Plastic-Bag-Recycling-Millbrook/dp/1467716081
More About the Book and Author Found Here!
Genre: Non-fiction; Biography
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Summary:
After hearing about the damage that plastic bags are causing in her community, Isatou is driven to find a way to solve the problem. She begins picking them up, washing them, and creating something beautiful for others to enjoy, all at the same time as she is cleaning up her home. I think this story is a great way to introduce an important concept, being recycling, in addition to students diving into a culture that is far different from their own, and it creates a bond between the reader and main character.
Target Audience:
The target audience for this book is for children between the ages of 5 to 9 years old. The Readability Lexile is AD570L. This book would work better for older children because there is some new terminology that is introduced from Isatou's culture that may be harder to grasp for younger children. The plot and setting of the story is easy to follow, however, and there is conversation to be made about many elements about the story that is new for children.
Evaluating the Story:
Based on Donna Norton's characteristics of high quality literature, this book perfectly captures a different culture by providing accurate images that correspond to the content of the story. This is a biography about a women who truly changed the community around her, and her story is portrayed beautifully. Children often find biographies more exciting than text books, because of the personal accounts of real people and their natural encounters. One thing I liked a lot about the text, in addition, was that when new words were introduced, they were italicized. For example, the word "Mbuba" was foreign to me, and because it was italicized I related it to Isatou's culture. I was able to use context clues to help me conclude that the story was talking about a hand-made leaf basket. This is a good start for students to start practicing making connections, too. The plot would appeal to the age range of 5-9 year olds because it is complex enough to keep them interested, and the differences of Isatou's culture are intriguing. The language used is appropriate; simple, but with a twist of words we are not quite used to in America sprinkled here and there. In addition, the texts and illustrations do not adhere to any racial stereotypes, and the portrayal of the culture is respectable and accurate. The theme of the story is about recycling, and the point is direct and easy to follow.
Reader Response Activity:
For this activity, I created a worksheet for students to fill out that allows them to recall different events in the story, and then apply the information to their own lives. This allows them to create connections with the character, their community, and to think more about the actions they can take into their own hands. This activity could be used as a group discussion as well, or it could be given to each individual student to fill out on their own. There are greater conversations that could emerge from introducing this story pertaining to recycling and it's importance.
Reader Response Activity for: One Plastic Bag
Seeds of Change: Wangari's Gift to the World
By: Jen Cullerton Johnson
Johnson Cullerton, J. (2010). Seeds of Change: Wangari's Gift to the World. Lee and Low Books.
https://www.leeandlow.com/books/seeds-of-change
Genre: Non-fiction; Biography
Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall
By: Anita Silvey
Silvey, A. (2015). Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall. National Geographic Children's Books.
https://www.kidsreads.com/reviews/untamed-the-wild-life-of-jane-goodall
Genre: Non-fiction; Biography
Seeds of Change: Wangari's Gift to the World
By: Jen Cullerton Johnson
Johnson Cullerton, J. (2010). Seeds of Change: Wangari's Gift to the World. Lee and Low Books.
https://www.leeandlow.com/books/seeds-of-change
More About the Book and Author Found Here!
Genre: Non-fiction; Biography
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Summary:
This story is about a young girl, Wangari, who grows up in a small community in Kenya who has a love for the environment around her. She holds great respect for the land, plants, animals, and more specifically, the cultural importance of the Magumo trees. She is driven and dedicated to educate herself just like the boys in her community, since it is not typical for women to become educated. Because of her hard work, however, she is able to attend school. Her mind sprouted like a seed, and successfully progressed in school and made her way into the United States to further her studies as a biologist. Upon earning her education, she returned to Kenya to share her knowledge and help promote the rights of women and the environment in villages across Kenya, one tree at a time. This inspiring story is uplifting, motivational, and empowering to women, as well as those with a true compassion for saving the land. It walks readers through the highlighted successes of her life up to where she is today, proving to young readers that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.
Target Audience:
The target audience for this story is for children between the ages of 6 to 11 years old, and has a Readability Lexile of 820L. This books provides bountiful opportunity for a variety of discussions, and it is beautifully portrayed for people of all ages to enjoy. It touches on topics of women's rights, empowerment, goal setting, environmental action, respect, cultural depictions, etc. and the list could go on!
Evaluating the Story:
Based on Donna Norton's concepts of teaching biographies to children, this book would fit perfectly in a classroom. It offers much more exciting information to children than a textbook would, due to the natural encounters that Wangari faces in her life. Biographies help children understand people from the past and present, and are among the most used genres of literature for resources. Norton also mentions how useful biographies are in reference to teaching the skill of making inferences. Overall, it allows students to make connections with the events of a real person's life, and can be very motivating to the young minds who read them. As for its picture book elements, I think it is illustrated so beautifully, and the bright, vibrant colors help reflect Kenyan culture. Each page has absolutely stunning pictures to correlate perfectly with the text, and that alone would keep children intrigued. Every detail from the text on each page is illustrated and meshed together simply, and it flows so well! They delineate and develop the characters of the story and it helps enlighten the author's literary style. I would definitely recommend this book to be introduced to a classroom because of all the wonderful elements it has to offer!
Reader Response Activity:
Disclosure: The publishing company for this story, Lee and Low Books, has provided a variety of resources listed under “Teacher’s Guide” to use within a classroom setting. Upon browsing through them, I found an activity that I think would greatly help explore all the elements that the book has to offer. I am creating my activity idea from here, therefore it is not completely my own.
Link to provided activities: https://www.leeandlow.com/books/seeds-of-change/teachers_guide
For this activity, I decided to do a "book walk," where students will write about their own interpretations on different elements of the story. This is a great way to get students to look deeper into the details around the story, and it is fun for them to express their own ideas and meaning! This could also be done as a whole group activity, where you ask them the questions and they come up and write it on the board and brain storm off of each other. You could also separate them into small groups and have them analyze each element together if these concepts of interpreting is little unfamiliar. Or, you can give it to them individually so that they can have their answers be completely unbiased from their peers perceptions.
Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall
By: Anita Silvey
Silvey, A. (2015). Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall. National Geographic Children's Books.
https://www.kidsreads.com/reviews/untamed-the-wild-life-of-jane-goodall
More About the Book and Author Found Here!
Genre: Non-fiction; Biography
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Summary:
With an immense fascination with wild animals and their environments, Jane Goodall set out in her young adult years to Africa. She then meets Lois Leaky, an animal and historical enthusiast, who she later works for. However, he is in search of somebody to fulfill one exceptional challenge: To visit the unmapped Gombe jungles and study chimpanzees, a job any field expert has yet to do, to which Jane steps up to attempt. To become completely and utterly immersed in her research, she lived upon the chimpanzees for extended periods of time, documenting their day to day routines, habits, and structure. From these experiences, she has made scientific breakthroughs that have forever changed the environmental and scientific community. Aside from her research, she avidly sought to preserve the land of which these animals lived and tirelessly fought to ensure that these species have a healthy, stable future on Earth. This is a very informative graphic novel, and offers insightful, remarkable observations that kids of all ages would find intriguing!
Target Audience:
The target audiences for this story are kids between the ages of 8 and 12 years old. It is an autobiography and graphic novel, so there is a lot more reading than the picture books I have previously reviewed. The Readability Lexile is 1100. This books takes readers through Goodall's timeline and the discoveries she has made. The concepts are more advanced, however an enjoyable read for middle school students.
Evaluating the Story:
Based on Donna Norton's characteristics for high quality literature, this book is the epitome of being good quality. It provides not only actual pictures of Goodall and the chimps, however the information given is extremely interesting, keeps children's attention, and provides appropriate language for a variety of readers. Since it is a biography, it allows children to make connections to Goodall because of the descriptions of her personal accounts. I can only imagine students' eyes growing bigger and bigger page by page as they embark on this journey with Goodall through each picture and the documentations she made. It touches on areas of science, exploration, biology, and environmentalism, all of which are important needs of children because it directly affects their day to day lives. Growing up learning about Jane Goodall, I wish I would have had this book accessible because it is such a fun read, and the information is immensely alluring!
Reader Response Activity:
For this activity, I created a simple chart that asks students to compare the similarities and differences between humans and chimpanzees from what they have learned in the book. I mentioned that this could pertain to heir appearance, how they eat, their family structures, activities they do for fun, how their bodies move, how they gather food, etc. Basically, any noticeable characteristics that they discovered as they read this book. This worksheet could be given to students before reading, that way they can fill it out as they progress through the book, or afterward so they can work on recalling these details. Either way, I think it is a simple, yet fun way to show students how to make comparisons, and to learn more about this specific species. Another fun activity could be to create this chart on a whiteboard or pull it up on a SmartBoard, and have students come up to fill it out in front of the class so that they can recall certain details that they may not have remembered.
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