Blog: Margo Dill's Read These Books and Use Them! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Picture Book, Creative Writing activities, Elementary Educators, six traits of writing, Books with Science Content, Making Personal Connections, Personal Connections, Preschool to 1st grade teachers, Shared Writing, Art activities, Un-Forgettable Friday, Writing Skills, service learning projects, green ideas for kids, green literacy, Bethel Ellie, Ellie Bethel, picture books about recycling, Add a tag
*Picture book, fiction, for preschoolers through 2nd graders
*Two superhero boys as main characters
*Rating: Boys will L-O-V-E Michael Recycle Meets Litterbug Doug, which teaches the importance of recycling without preaching. Great idea!
Short, short summary:
A clean, little town has a big problem–Litterbug Doug, his rotten trash, and his rat friends. Litterbug Doug doesn’t care about his neighbors or the earth until Michael Recycle shows him the error of his ways. Once Litterbug Doug changes his habits, he becomes the litter police. Told with rhyme and bright illustrations, children will love listening to and looking at Michael Recycle Meets Litterbug Doug. The end of the book provides “green” tips for kids and facts about trash.So, what do I do with this book?
1. After reading about Michael Recycle, allow students to create their own “green” superhero. Students should write about the superhero and draw a picture. Children should also make up a new name.
2. In so many classrooms and even at home, we talk a lot about recycling around Earth Day–but we shouldn’t wait until April to talk about this important subject. Children can take the green tips from the back of the book and create posters for the classroom. Then whenever a child or adult “catches someone being green,” shout it out. For example, you could shout out, “I just caught Alissa being green. She remembered to turn off our light switch on our way out of the classroom. Thanks, Alissa!”
3. Michael Recycle Meets Litterbug Doug is a great example of a picture book you can use to teach word choice, one of the six plus one traits of writing. Ellie Bethel’s word choice really sets the scene and shows readers just how gross Litterbug Doug is.
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JacketFlap tags: Middle Grade Novel, Reading Skills, Green books, Scat, Carl Hiaasen, Middle School Teachers, Elementary Educators, Books with Science Content, Research Ideas, tween books, Un-Forgettable Friday, Writing Skills, Hiaasen Carl, Eco-mystery, green ideas for kids, Add a tag
Florida Swamp photo by Peter Long www.flickr.com
*Middle-grade to tween (there’s some language in here–FYI ) contemporary fiction novel
*Middle-grade students Nick and Marta as main characters
*Rating: A good eco-mystery for kids with a quirky cast of characters, similar to Hoot and Flush by Carl Hiaasen.
Short, short summary:
Scat has a main plot and a pretty important sub-plot that is timely and will appeal to many kids. First the main plot: Bunny Starch, a feared biology teacher, goes missing after a field trip to Black Vine Swamp. Many people are pointing their finger at Duane Scrod, also known as Smoke. But Nick and Marta, two kids in Mrs. Starch’s class, aren’t sure what’s going on in Black Vine Swamp because there seems to be a lot. Nick took some video the day of the field trip, and he and Marta aren’t sure what they see moving among the vegetation–is it the rare, endangered Florida Panther, a man, or even Smoke? Nick and Marta’s curiosity gets the better of them, and they get mixed up in the Black Vine Swamp events after a visit to Mrs. Starch’s house to try to find out what is actually going on. The sub-plot of Scat by Carl Hiaasen is about Nick and his father. Nick’s father is in the National Guard and had to serve in the War in Iraq. He is injured, and Nick has to deal with his father’s injuries and the fear that comes with having a parent in the war.So, what do I do with this book?
1. One of the most obvious activities to do with this book and the other Carl Hiaasen books in this series is to talk about the “green” issues that the author brings up. Scat is a great book to go along with a science unit on habitats or to read around Earth Day. Without giving away too much of the plot on this post, you can discuss with students endangered species such as the Florida panther, saving swamp land and why it’s important to food chains/webs, and animals and plants in Florida/warm climate habitats. Children and students can write down facts they learn about these topics while reading Scat, or they can use the Internet or other resources to learn more.
2. Nick’s father in the war may be an issue that some of the children in your class or your family are also dealing with at this point in their lives. If not a parent in the war, then they may know someone else in the war or who has been injured or killed. Before reading this book with these children, you may want to discuss the issues that will be surfacing to make sure children are okay with reading about this topic. Books like Scat by Carl Hiaasen can open up discussions about topics that are bothering children, but some children may still not want to openly discuss upsetting issues in class. You can always give students the option of writing in their reading response journals instead or providing two or three writing or discussion prompts with one being a “safe” topic.
3. Carl Hiaasen tells this story from several different viewpoints. There are many important characters in this book that he develops. As children meet a new character in the text, ask them to write the character’s name in their reading response journals and then some details about him. This will help students keep track of the characters and use their names during discussions and writing assignments. At the end of the novel, ask students to pick their favorite and least favorite characters from this list
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