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From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd_at_ensworth.com>
Date: Tue, 07 Aug 2012 10:11:02 -0500
THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION, the 2003 Printz Honor, has been a huge hit with my 8th graders, always the favorite class novel of the year with a majority of my 8th graders, even over To Kill A Mockingbird. There's something abou t the voice, the coming of age story, and the overall weirdness of the stor y that these readers find compelling.
I use Jan Greenberg's HEART TO HEART (2002 Sibert Honor) to kick off a proj ect with my 8th graders in which they choose one of the artists from the bo ok to research. They write reports on "their" artists and, using the art an d poems in the book as models, they write their own poems about a work of a rt by their artist. They can also create original works or art inspired by their artists—a painted porcelain shoe after researching Andy Warhol, a c ollage painting after a study of Romare Bearden, a drip painting in the man ner of Jackson Pollock. A project like this begins with excellent literatur e and leads to students' own poetry writing, art, and expository writing. I also bring in other beautiful books about art by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan. My article about this project will appear in the November 2012 BOO K LINKS magazine.
Other Sibert winners or honors I've had classroom success with are Kit's Wi lderness, Skellig, and Monster. I often lend The Book Thief to 8th graders who are mature, strong readers after our Holocaust unit.
On the issue of excellent nonfiction for the Printz: I agree with those say ing there is a lot of great, award-worthy nonfiction out there. Since I'm o n the current Sibert Committee, I can't discuss specific 2012 titles and a uthors, but I am always on the lookout for nonfiction to read with my class es. Susan Campbell Bartoletti's Hitler Youth is used in all of our 8th-grad e classes, and Elizabeth Partridge's Marching for Freedom in 7th grade, alo ng with lots of nonfiction titles to supplement these readings and in class room libraries. And there is a long list of excellent nonfiction writers wh o, for many years, have been creating excellent works: Bartoletti, Partridg e, Greenberg, Marc Aronson, Russell Freedman, Jim Murphy, Steve Sheinkin, C andace Fleming, Tanya Lee Stone, Deborah Hopkinson, and many others. (This is just a list off the top of my head, so I'm sure I have neglected other f avorites.)
Best, Dean Schneider Schneiderd_at_ensworth.com
Received on Tue 07 Aug 2012 10:11:02 AM CDT
Date: Tue, 07 Aug 2012 10:11:02 -0500
THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION, the 2003 Printz Honor, has been a huge hit with my 8th graders, always the favorite class novel of the year with a majority of my 8th graders, even over To Kill A Mockingbird. There's something abou t the voice, the coming of age story, and the overall weirdness of the stor y that these readers find compelling.
I use Jan Greenberg's HEART TO HEART (2002 Sibert Honor) to kick off a proj ect with my 8th graders in which they choose one of the artists from the bo ok to research. They write reports on "their" artists and, using the art an d poems in the book as models, they write their own poems about a work of a rt by their artist. They can also create original works or art inspired by their artists—a painted porcelain shoe after researching Andy Warhol, a c ollage painting after a study of Romare Bearden, a drip painting in the man ner of Jackson Pollock. A project like this begins with excellent literatur e and leads to students' own poetry writing, art, and expository writing. I also bring in other beautiful books about art by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan. My article about this project will appear in the November 2012 BOO K LINKS magazine.
Other Sibert winners or honors I've had classroom success with are Kit's Wi lderness, Skellig, and Monster. I often lend The Book Thief to 8th graders who are mature, strong readers after our Holocaust unit.
On the issue of excellent nonfiction for the Printz: I agree with those say ing there is a lot of great, award-worthy nonfiction out there. Since I'm o n the current Sibert Committee, I can't discuss specific 2012 titles and a uthors, but I am always on the lookout for nonfiction to read with my class es. Susan Campbell Bartoletti's Hitler Youth is used in all of our 8th-grad e classes, and Elizabeth Partridge's Marching for Freedom in 7th grade, alo ng with lots of nonfiction titles to supplement these readings and in class room libraries. And there is a long list of excellent nonfiction writers wh o, for many years, have been creating excellent works: Bartoletti, Partridg e, Greenberg, Marc Aronson, Russell Freedman, Jim Murphy, Steve Sheinkin, C andace Fleming, Tanya Lee Stone, Deborah Hopkinson, and many others. (This is just a list off the top of my head, so I'm sure I have neglected other f avorites.)
Best, Dean Schneider Schneiderd_at_ensworth.com
Received on Tue 07 Aug 2012 10:11:02 AM CDT
