35 Best Books For Teaching U S Regions

Take your students on a learning-packed trip across the U.S. with books they ll love! This resource includes background information, activity ideas, reproducibles, and Internet connections to help you use 35 great novels as springboards to social studies learning. A great way to get your kids to read more deeplyand learn about the seven U.S. regions. For use with Grades 4-8."

Playing on the phrase, The author and you, a commonly taught reading comprehension strategy that teaches the learner how to look at the words of an author and make inferences about what is being said, this series assists teachers and teacher-librarians in understanding the underlying purposes of the author as they prepare learning activities for their students. Through family photos, reminiscences, anecdotes and stories, Toni Buzzeo relates her lifelong preparation to become a writer. The book features wonderful insights into the creation of her picture books for children and interesting creative lesson activities to use with students. The series focuses primarily on books for the elementary age child (K-6), featuring insights into the author's background, purposes and goals in writing books. By furnishing an overview of the author's works, the books in the series give teachers the big picture. Each book features personal information about the author, including insights into why this author has chosen to write in a specific genre plus lesson plans and/or activities for each of the author's books featured. These lessons will stress the particular interest of the author and the author and you (the teacher) will build a collaborative instructional relationship using the material provided. Each book is written by the featured author or in close collaboration with the author. Using family photographs, reminiscences, anecdotes and stories, Toni Buzzeo relates her lifelong preparation to become a writer. The book features wonderful insights into the creation of her picture books for children and interesting creative lesson activities to use with students. Grades K-6.

Globalization and the Internet are smothering cultural regionalism, that sense of place that flourished in simpler times. These two villains are also prime suspects in the death of reading. Or so alarming reports about our homogenous and dumbed-down culture would have it, but as Regionalism and the Reading Class shows, neither of these claims stands up under scrutiny—quite the contrary. Wendy Griswold draws on cases from Italy, Norway, and the United States to show that fans of books form their own reading class, with a distinctive demographic profile separate from the general public. This reading class is modest in size but intense in its literary practices. Paradoxically these educated and mobile elites work hard to put down local roots by, among other strategies, exploring regional writing. Ultimately, due to the technological, economic, and political advantages they wield, cosmopolitan readers are able to celebrate, perpetuate, and reinvigorate local culture. Griswold’s study will appeal to students of cultural sociology and the history of the book—and her findings will be welcome news to anyone worried about the future of reading or the eclipse of place.

Bundle up for fun with this learning-packed resource on awesome Alaska! Students make a model of Denali, avoid the perils of the icy Iditarod in a History and Hazards board game, chart the sizes of big bears and other "giants” of the Alaskan wilderness, create Northern Lights sun catchers, and try out many more hands-on activities. Alaska includes background, easy activities, reproducibles, book links, and a BIG, colorful poster of Alaskan wildlife. For use with Grades 4-8.

For library students, paraprofessionals, and librarians who are wondering if they have their ladder against the right wall, Straight from the Stacks fills the need for an up-to-date resource that uncovers the amazing and varied jobs available in the library field.

"Extending the authors' previous book, I-Search, You Search, We All Learn to Research (Neal-Schuman, 2000), this title takes readers step-by-step through a unit for grades three and four, from planning to assessment. ... Large boxed figures interspersed throughout the text include I-Search forms, worksheets, organizational tools, and lists of resources for further information. The accompanying CD-ROM contains the collaborative planning guide, the I-Search journal for students, and a PowerPoint presentation for professional development found in the book, with all of the figures incorporated for easy modification and printing. This is a valuable resource guide for teachers and librarians using, or planning to use, the I-Search method."--Booklist.

A companion book to Read! Perform! Learn!, a resource for school media specialist, public children's librarians, and classroom teachers who want to share excellent children's literature with their students while improving reading skills. Includes a set of standards-based learning activities with accompanying standards.