Entry #5 Review of  2 children's books


Blog Entry #5 Review of 2 children’s books/cultural aspects

1) The first book I chose was, When I Was Young In The Mountains, by Cynthia Rylant.   This book describes an adult remembering the simple pleasures in country living.  The main issue for my ELL students, but also for most of my other students, would be background knowledge of living in the country and many vocabulary words that relate to that topic.  I might front load the class with a think-pair-share discussion of the following words and concepts pairing ELL students with students who might have some understanding of the following words:
coal mine
okra
johnny-house
swimming hole
pumping water from a well
baptism
cowbells
porch
Most of the words are accessible through context clues and the support of the illustrations, however, ELL students may not have any or enough background knowledge to truly understand the meaning of the specific vocabulary.

2) The second book I chose was, The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco.  It’s the story told so eloquently by Ms. Polacco of a homemade quilt and how it ties together the lives of four generations of an immigrant Jewish family, remaining a symbol of their enduring love and faith.  I use this book in my class every year as an example of the importance of family and also the uniqueness of certain mementos that are often passed from generation to generation.  Because this is the story of Russian immigrants coming to New York, there is lots of background related to the historical events of people coming to America.  It also contains many examples of Russian culture as well as Jewish culture.  I believe the story is one that children can relate to as most have heard stories from their parents and grandparents about their unique family history.

Again, I would frontload the students with vocabulary.  Here is a sampling of some possible words to discover together:

babushka
quilt
Sabbath
huppa
Jews

I like to use this book because it tells such a rich story of culture and the importance of family as well as traditions that many children may know much about.  It allows the opportunity for students from other countries to share traditions in their own families as well as my regular students to share theirs, too.

     In both books, I would make sure to make sure I included any and all words that are crucial to the understanding of the text.  I would also try and find multiple opportunities for these students to hear, say, read, and write any frequently used words from both texts.  I might have the students chose a couple of pages that were the easiest for them to read and have them practice fluency using those pages.   Since both books are picture books with artwork that purposefully supports the text, I might pull a small group of both my ELL students and my lower readers to reinforce the use of pictures to deepen understanding.