Embedded Files
Meera Sriram
Meera Sriram
Between Two Worlds
Between Two Worlds
Amrita Sher-Gil was always making art--as a little girl in Budapest, as a young woman in Northern India, and as an art student in Paris, she filled up notebooks with sketches and drawings--but what kind of artist would she grow up to be? Amrita was rebellious, brave, curious, and bold in her short life and in her paintings, and she became an important figure in the 20th century modern art movement.
Meera Sriram
Meera Sriram
Activities:
Activities:
ELA
ELA
Discuss the characteristics of the biography genre.
Choose one of Sher-Gil's paintings and write a story about what is happening in the painting. (choose the painting prior to the lesson to assure inappropriate content is not viewable by students)
STEM
STEM
Experiment with color mixing with an online color mixing tool or real paints and try to recreate the earth tones in the illustrations using just primary colors. Document how much of each primary color is needed to make a color in the book.
Find examples of symmetry in nature and in art. Look at the illustration on the page with the text "men in turbans and jewels" and discuss how the image uses symmetry. Have students create an image that imitates this illustration using representations from their own life.
Social Studies
Social Studies
Read more about Amrita Sher-Gil's life. Use Google Earth to explore the places she lived. Create a timeline of her life.
Read about other famous women artists and compare their painting styles.
SEL/Character Education
SEL/Character Education
Create a list of character traits that describe Amrita Sher-Gil and give examples from her life.
Jessie sima
Jessie sima
Perfectly Pegasus
Perfectly Pegasus
A lonely pegasus looks for the perfect friend in this sweet and adorable picture book companion to the bestselling Not Quite Narwhal!
Nimbus has always lived among the clouds. She's a pegasus, after all, and the sky is where she belongs. She is one of a kind. And when she wants a friend, all she has to do is look up--and talk to the stars.
Only...they don't really talk back. The clouds don't, either. And sometimes, being the only pegasus can be a little...lonely? So she decides to find a fallen star to make a wish on--and wishes for friends who are just like her. Along the way she meets a Unicorn named Kelp, and a host of other creatures...who might just open her eyes to something other than what's up in the sky.
Resources:
Resources:
Jessie Sima
Jessie Sima
Activities:
Activities:
ELA
ELA
Use a Venn diagram to compare the two main characters, Nimbus and Kelp.
Have students complete a character analysis worksheet for one of the main characters
STEM
STEM
Explore stars and constellations with Google Sky
Use the Interactive Sky Chart to see what the night sky will look like where your students live.
Research clouds
Research "shooting stars"
Social Studies
Social Studies
Read folktales or myths about Pegasus
Read folktales or myths about unicorns
SEL/Character Education
SEL/Character Education
Discuss what students can do when they are feeling lonely
Reem Faruqi
Reem Faruqi
Amira's Picture Day
Amira's Picture Day
Ramadan has come to an end, and Amira can't wait to stay home from school to celebrate Eid. There's just one hiccup: it's also school picture day. How can Amira be in two places at once?
Just the thought of Eid makes Amira warm and tingly inside. From wearing new clothes to handing out goody bags at the mosque, Amira can't wait for the festivities to begin. But when a flier on the fridge catches her eye, Amira's stomach goes cold. Not only is it Eid, it's also school picture day. If she's not in her class picture, how will her classmates remember her? Won't her teacher wonder where she is?
Though the day's celebrations at the mosque are everything Amira was dreaming of, her absence at picture day weighs on her. A last-minute idea on the car ride home might just provide the solution to everything in this delightful story from acclaimed author Reem Faruqi, illustrated with vibrant color by Fahmida Azim.
Reem Faruqi
Reem Faruqi
Activities:
Activities:
ELA
ELA
Show students the pictures on pages 20-21 of the children at the masjid. Have students discuss what they notice about what the children look like and how they are dressed. Compare the images with the picture of Amira with her class taking the picture.
Use student devices to take class pictures and have students write a story about something that happened on picture day.
STEAM
STEAM
Research when cameras were invented and how they work.
Find class pictures from different eras/years (from old yearbooks or the Library of Congress) and compare how photography has changed.
Social Studies
Social Studies
Research Muslim holiday traditions
Research the tradition of painting hands with mehndi/henna and have students create a mehndi/henna design for themselves
SEL/Character Education
SEL/Character Education
Discuss why Amira felt being part of the class picture was important.
Discuss why Amira was nervous to visit her class in the clothes she wore to the masjid.
Judy Allen Dodson
Judy Allen Dodson
Escape from ... Hurricane Katrina
Escape from ... Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most destructive storms in American history. In this fictional tale, daring twins Jo Jo and Sophie battle the raging floodwaters in a fight for their lives.
For twins Jo Jo and Sophie Dupre, Hurricane Katrina isn't the most important thing on their minds-not compared their mother's cancer treatments, Sophie's swim meet, and Jo Jo's upcoming coding competition. But when the storm intensifies and there's only one seat their aunt's car, Mom has to be the one to evacuate. The twins and their father are stuck at home in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
The winds rise-and with them, the waves. The levees break and floodwater rages through the city. During the chaos, Jo Jo and Sophie are swept away. Together, they must find their way to the Superdome, where their father should be waiting-but can they escape the wrath of one of the deadliest storms in history?
Resources:
Resources:
Judy Allen Dodson
Judy Allen Dodson
Activities:
Activities:
ELA
ELA
Use the "Reality Check" sections at the end of each chapter to compare the events in the fictional narrative to the facts of the actual event.
STEM
STEM
Use the Reality Check on page 3 as a starting point to research hurricanes.
Use the interactive Historical Hurricane Tracks map of Hurricane Katrina to learn how wind speed and air pressure are related.
Social Studies
Social Studies
Map the path of Hurricane Katrina using latitude and longitude points.
Research other historically notable hurricanes and compare their impact to Hurricane Katrina.
Research New Orleans before and after the storm to see how the city has recovered.
SEL/Character Education
SEL/Character Education
At the end of the book, the main character has to deal with many different feelings about being back in the family' house in New Orleans, but is comforted to know that his family gets how he is feeling. Do an activity about building empathy by playing a game of charades about different emotions.
The characters experience many different emotions throughout the book. Do an activity to help students distinguish between big emotions and small emotions.
Maya Myers
Maya Myers
Not Little by Maya Myers
Not Little by Maya Myers
Just because you’re really small doesn’t mean you can’t have a big heart. When the diminutive Dot stands up to a bully on behalf of an even smaller friend, she proves how big she can truly be.
Dot is the smallest person in her family and at school; even her name is small! People often mistake her for being younger than she is, but not when she tells them the square root of sixty-four is eight, nor when she orders from the grown-up menu at restaurants or checks out the hard books at the library. She may be small, but she’s not little.
When a new boy named Sam joins Dot’s class, she wonders if he’s even smaller than she is. When she sees him getting bullied by a mean kid twice his size, she knows she has to do the big thing and stand up for him.
Maya Myers’s debut picture book has a pitch-perfect voice that captures the inimitable Dot in all her fierceness, and Hyewon Yum’s delightful pastel-hued artwork is its perfect complement.
Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Maya Myers
Maya Myers
Activities:
Activities:
ELA
ELA
Collectively brainstorm character traits and create a word cloud in the shape of a girl to describe Dot
STEM
STEM
Measure students' heights, graph results and analyze data
Pair with a book about opposites and sort a collection of items by opposite characteristics
Books about opposites
We Love You Rosie by Cynthia Rylant
Comparing Properties by Charlotte Guillain
Big Fish, Little Fish by Christy Webster
SEL/Character Education
SEL/Character Education
Watch The Playground is for Everyone, define bullying, discuss what kids can do if they are being bullied or see someone else being bullied, and write a class pledge to stop bullying
Other books about bullying:
The Little Blue Bridge by Brenda Maier
Daisy by Jessixa Bagley
Lunchbox Bully by Hans Wilhelm
Speak Up, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell
The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad
The Itty Bitty Witch by Patricia Speed Shaskan
I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoet
J. Dillard
J. Dillard
J.D. and the Great Barber Battle by J. Dillard
J.D. and the Great Barber Battle by J. Dillard
Eight-year-old J.D. turns a tragic home haircut into a thriving barber business in this hilarious new illustrated chapter book series.
J.D. has a big problem–it’s the night before the start of third grade and his mom has just given him his first and worst home haircut. When the steady stream of insults from the entire student body of Douglass Elementary becomes too much for J.D., he takes matters into his own hands and discovers that, unlike his mom, he’s a genius with the clippers. His work makes him the talk of the town and brings him enough hair business to open a barbershop from his bedroom. But when Henry Jr., the owner of the only official local barbershop, realizes he’s losing clients to J.D., he tries to shut him down for good. How do you find out who’s the best barber in all of Meridian, Mississippi? With a GREAT BARBER BATTLE!
J. Dillard
J. Dillard
Activities:
Activities:
ELA
ELA
Describe J.D. and create a word cloud in the shape of a boy
Discuss cause and effect and complete a graphic organizer about major events in the book or in one chapter
STEM
STEM
Social Studies
Social Studies
Research hair styles around the world and compare how people wear their hair in different cultures
Research the history of hair care products
Learn about Madame CJ Walker and the hair products she invented and about the local Dudley hair care and beauty product company.
Learn about the history of black barbershops and their importance in the community
Other books about barbershops:
Max Goes to the Barber by Adria Klein
Shop Talk by Juwanda Ford
Bibbity Bop Barbershop by Natasha Tarpley
Uncle Jed's Barbershop by Margaree Mitchell
SEL/Character Education
SEL/Character Education
Explore the diversity of hair among students in the class and create a class collage using pictures of the students
Read the perspectives these children have about hair and have students discuss these questions in class
Other books about hair:
Crowning Glory by Joyce Carol Thomas
Hair Love by Matthew Cherry
Crown by Derrick Barnes
Dalia's Wondrous Hair by Lara Lacamara
My Hair is a Garden by Cozbi Cabrera
Don't Touch My Hair by Sharee Miller
Cornrows by Camille Yarbrough
Happy Hair by Mechal Renee Roe
I Love My Hair by Natasha Tarpley
Page updated
Report abuse