The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming

 Fleming, C. (2014). The family Romanov: Murder, rebellion, and the fall of imperial Russia. New York: Schwartz & Wade.
The Family Romanov is a YALSA nonfiction award finalist.
Here is the tumultuous, heartrending, true story of the Romanovs—at once an intimate portrait of Russia's last royal family and a gripping account of its undoing. Using captivating photos and compelling first person accounts, award-winning author Candace Fleming (Amelia Lost; The Lincolns) deftly maneuvers between the imperial family’s extravagant lives and the plight of Russia's poor masses, making this an utterly mesmerizing read.
Lesson plans:
Where Does Power Reside in Any Government? Explore the ways in which the Romanov dynasty failed to meet the needs of the Russian people, using the events depicted in the book and digital resources below. Use this experience as a pivot to explore other moments in time when leaders have toppled. Consider the Arab Spring, the Ukraine, Iraq, and the recent failed attempt at an independence vote in Scotland. You might want to bring in the American Revolution. Does power reside in the people? Laws? Government structures? The military? Have students working in small groups to conduct their research and then have them come together to have a staged debate about power and government, or a “panel talk” about the power in the particular situations they researched. 

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat

 Santat, D. (2014). The adventures of Beekle: The unimaginary friend. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
The Adventures of Beekle is a Caldecott award winner.
This magical story begins on an island far away where an imaginary friend is born. He patiently waits his turn to be chosen by a real child, but when he is overlooked time and again, he sets off on an incredible journey to the bustling city, where he finally meets his perfect match and-at long last-is given his special name: Beekle.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iLWe7kS-5I

 

 

The Story of Owen(Dragon Slayer 0f Trondheim #1) by E. K. Johnson

 Johnson, E.K. (2014). The story of Owen( dragon slayer of Trondheim #1). Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books.
The Story of Owen is a Morris award winner.
Listen! For I sing of Owen Thorskard: valiant of heart, hopeless at algebra, last in a long line of legendary dragon slayers. Though he had few years and was not built for football, he stood between the town of Trondheim and creatures that threatened its survival. There have always been dragons. As far back as history is told, men and women have fought them, loyally defending their villages. Dragon slaying was a proud tradition. But dragons and humans have one thing in common: an insatiable appetite for fossil fuels. From the moment Henry Ford hired his first dragon slayer, no small town was safe. Dragon slayers flocked to cities, leaving more remote areas unprotected. Such was Trondheim's fate until Owen Thorskard arrived. At sixteen, with dragons advancing and his grades plummeting, Owen faced impossible odds armed only with a sword, his legacy, and the classmate who agreed to be his bard. Listen! I am Siobhan McQuaid. I alone know the story of Owen, the story that changes everything. Listen!  
If you liked this book, you will like this book with the same topic, dragons. A Creature of Moonlight  by Rebecca Haun is about a girl who is half dragon, half human.  As the only heir to the throne, Marni should have been surrounded by wealth and privilege, not living in exile-but now the time has come when she must choose between claiming her birthright as princess of a realm whose king wants her dead, and life with the father she has never known: a wild dragon who is sending his magical woods to capture her.

I'll Give you the Sun by Jandy Nelson

 Nelson, J. (2014). I'll give you the sun. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.
I'll Give You the Sun is a Printz award winner.
Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jtukHj-cz8

Popular: A Memoir: A Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen

 Van Wagenen, M. (2014). Popular a memoir: Vintage wisdom for a modern geek. New York: Dutton Books.
This is a YALSA nonfiction award winner.
Stuck at the bottom of the social ladder at pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren’t paid to be here,” Maya Van Wagenen decided to begin a unique social experiment: spend the school year following a 1950s popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell. Can curlers, girdles, Vaseline, and a strand of pearls help Maya on her quest to be popular? The real-life results are painful, funny, and include a wonderful and unexpected surprise—meeting and befriending Betty Cornell herself. Told with humor and grace, Maya’s journey offers readers of all ages a thoroughly contemporary example of kindness and self-confidence.
Lesson plans:

UNIT: Memoir

TOPIC: Making the Connections to Texts that Good Readers Make

LESSON 1 OBJECTIVE: Students will make text-to-text and text-to-self connections.

 CORE CONTENT: Literary Reading

Connect information from a passage to students’ lives and/or real world issues.

VOCABULARY: text-to-text, text-to-self, connecting, questioning, visualizing, inferring, synthesizing

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:

Chart paper

Writer’s Notebook or Reading Journal
Literature example of memoir that focuses on the relationship of the writer and another person and/or short fiction that focuses on the relationship between characters.
 TEACHING STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES:
Preview the chosen text in order to identify personal text-to-text and text-to-self connections you will share with the class.
Before reading,
discuss with students what good readers do: making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring, and synthesizing. Tell students that good readers make connections to the books they read either by connecting it to another book

they have read (text-to-text) or to something in their own life (text-to-self).  

Explain to the students that the first time you read aloud you simply want them to listen to the story. After reading the story, ask the students if the story reminded them of anything from their life or another story or book they have read. Point out that some  

students made text-to-text or text-to-self connections. Explain that these connections are  

what engage good readers. Have students make an entry in their reading journals that  

includes the title of the story you just read and their personal connections to the story. Next, tell the students you are going to re-read the story, only this time you are going to include your own text-to-text and text-to-self connections. Remind them that  

you are doing out loud what good readers do in their heads. During the reading,

model  

using the phrases “This reminds me of______________”, “That’s like ______________________”, “She/he is just like my _______________”, so that students  

will use them as they write down their own connections. After reading and thinking aloud, review your connections on the overhead or on chart paper. Ask students to make a note of any new connections they made as you shared yours.

 · EXTENSIONS/ACCOMODATIONS FOR ECE/OTHER DIVERSE LEARNERS:
To reinforce connections to text for the learner who requires practice of new ideas, select several of the stories to read and respond to. For the students needing visual cues, supply them with a cloze procedure paper so the students can fill in the blanks with their reflections. When presenting the lesson, try to

minimize the use of complex sentence structure and sophisticated vocabulary that could interfere with the student’s comprehension.

· ENRICHMENT:
 Have students designate a page for Text-to-text and one for Text-to-Self in their Reader’s Journal. Students could preview several books/stories you plan to share in class and make notes about connections on the appropriate pages.
· TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS:
If a computer is accessible to your classroom, set up a database that includes several book/story titles you are asking the students to preview. After students have read each book, ask them to add to the database text-to-text or text-to-self

connections. In addition, some students may want to add new books/stories to the database.

 

ASSESSING THE LEARNING:

During individual conferences, review and discuss the notes students made in their Reader’s Journal. Inaccuracies, incoherence, etc. can be addressed at this time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waiting is not Easy! by Mo Willems

 Willems, M. (2014). Waiting is not easy! New York: Hyperion Books for Children.
Waiting is Not Easy! is an honor winner of the Geisel award.
The Geisel Award is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers.  This annual award,  is named for the world-renowned children's author Theodor Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss.
Gerald is careful. Piggie is not.
Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can.
Gerald worries so that Piggie does not have to.
Gerald and Piggie are best friends.
In Waiting Is Not Easy!, Piggie has a surprise for Gerald, but he is going to have to wait for it. And Wait. And wait some more...
Another Geisel honor book is Penny and her Marble by Kevin Henkes. In the third easy-to-read book about Penny the mouse, written by Caldecott Medalist and bestselling author Kevin Henkes, Penny finds a beautiful marble on her neighbor's lawn and must decide whether or not to keep it. With age-appropriate vocabulary, compelling characters, and a memorable storyline, Penny and her Marble is just right for beginning readers.

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

 Alexander, K. (2014). The crossover. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
The Crossover is a Newbery award winner.
With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I'm delivering," announces dread-locked, 12-year old Josh Bell. He and his twin brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood, he's got mad beats, too, that tell his family's story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood. Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=modPFEyuBYg