Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

Title: Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures 
Author/Illustrator: Kate DiCamillo and K.G Campbell
Genre: Newbery Award
Age Group: 4th - 5th grade

                                                    

Summary:
This story is about a young girl named Flora, and a new friend that she makes. A squirrel named Ulysses. Before making the friend, she is dealing with her parents recently got divorced and a mother who is not being attentive towards her.
She runs to the squirrel's rescue when she sees her neighbor vacuum him up and she believes she can save him. After giving the squirrel mouth to mouth and saving him, she takes him inside. She believes he is a superhero! Making no attempt to hide him, her mother is oblivious to her holding the squirrel and she takes him up to her room with her. Later that night she is having a conversation with the squirrel and he seems to be understanding Flora which furthers her belief that he is a superhero. This book takes you on their adventure together, from Ulysses writing on her Floras mother's typewriter, to going out in public at a restaurant with him and her father.
Later in the story, Ulysses disappears, leaving Flora in a panic. She and a family friend go and look for him, finding him back at where they began. Ulysses saves their friend from being attacked by a cat which leaves them happy and begins to open up and talk about the problems the family had been going through.

In my classroom, I would use this book for a lesson on imagination. Flora believes the squirrel is a superhero, and in a way, she is right because he is there to help her get through her family issues.
I think the age group between 9 to 11 would be good because this is the age group where kids start to use their imagination more as well as write about it.

After reading this book I would have the students write about a story where an animal of their choosing was a superhero and then make a comic strip out of it.

Wishtree

Title: Wishtree
Author: Katherine Applegate
Genre: Bluebonnet
Age Group: 4th - 6th

                                                         
Summary:

This book, Wishtree is told from the point of view of a 200-year-old oak tree named Red. Every May first people come to hang their wishes on his branches. Red houses several animal families and is in the backyard of a Muslim family who is not accepted by the neighborhood. The young girl in the family wishes for a friend, however, several days later a carves the word "leave" in it leaving the family in a frenzy and feeling low. Between the condition of the tree and the carving, the police officers believe it would be best to chop Red down. This causes tension between animal families. Red and a crow named Bongo devise a plan to make the girls wish of a friend to come true in hopes of saving it. This makes Red having to reveal himself to the little girl and her neighbor, telling them his story. This encourages the girl and the neighbor to try and save the tree. They get the neighborhood to gather around the tree and the animals to wish for Red to stay. The owners of the tree decide to leave the tree up and do not chop it down. The main character makes a friend and is happy to be in the town even though all that happened.

In my classroom, I would use this book as a kindness lesson. The main character is being bullied based on a perception of how people think her family's religion is like, however judging is never okay. I would have a "wish tree" printed out and instead of having a negative word written in it I would have them write encouraging words.
I think the age group is about 4th - 6th grade because this age group is around the time students deal with bullying and seeing differences amongst their peers. This book would be an eye-opener for some children.

The Story of Johnny Appleseed

Title: The Story of Johnny Appleseed

Author/Illustrator" Aliki

Genre: Informational 

Age Group: 1st - 3rd grade

                                                    

Summary:

Johnny Chapman, later known as Johnny Appleseed, walked around for miles every day. One day he decided to sit under a tree and eat an apple. In his hand seeds were leftover and he decided to plant them. Which led to him wanting to plant apple seeds. So that became his mission. He walked and traveled miles from home, planting apple seeds as he went. Until one day he became very ill. An Indian mother and her child found Johnny laying down in the snow sick. She took him back to her village and nurtured him back to health. Once he was feeling better, he ventured off again but visited his friends frequently since they did save his life. To this day we can see apple trees everywhere, only because of him.

In my classroom, I would use this book to talk about the accomplishments the children have made so far. For an activity, I would have a big cut out of a tree in my classroom and instead of apples, I would have the children write their accomplishments and glue them on the tree.

I think the age group is appropriate for 1st through 3rd because it is a good read-aloud story and is easy to follow along with.

Let's Meet a Police Officer

Title: Let's Meet a Police Officer
Author/Illustrated: Gina Bellisario and Cale Atkinson
Genre: Informational
Age Group: K - 1st
                                                     
Summary:

In this short informational story, the students meet police officer Gabby and police officer Ken and his K-9. This story explores what officers have to do on a day to day basis and different things the students can follow. It also goes into detail about what technology officers use to help cities safe from crime. As the book progresses it talks about FBI agents, which they describe as people who protect the country. They sum up the book to talk about what to do to keep a neighborhood safe in day to day life.

In my classroom I would use this book to talk about different professions there are in the world. I would probably do a weekly book read over the different jobs people can have just to get the kids interested. If I was starting the weekly book reads with this book I would have the students write on a sentence strip "When I grow up I want to be a ... " and then they would finish it. I would hang it up around the classroom once they were finished.

I think the age group is appropriate because I think it is good to have the young students thinking about the different possibilities that are out there.

Salmon Stream

Title: Salmon Stream
Author/Illustrator: Carol Reed-Jones and Michael S. Maydak
Genre: Informational
Age Group: 2nd - 4th grade
                                                   
Summary:

Salmon Stream takes the reader through different fish that lives in a stream. The main fish of the story is the salmon, it shows the life cycle of a salmon. Starting off with the water salmons are hatched in, different places that are the best for a salmon to leave their eggs, how the salmon fish hatch, all the way through their life as a salmon. The book includes an informational page that is dedicated to the salmon life cycle.

I would have this book in my classroom for a research project. I would plan for my students to have a research project and use this book as an example of something they could research.

I think the age group 2nd through 4th grade is appropriate because they could read this independently and be able to understand it.

It's Raining

Title: It's Raining
Author/Illustrator: Gail Gibbons
Genre: Informational
Age Group: 3rd - 5th grade
                                                   
Summary:

This book talks about the rain cycle. Starting with the importance of rain such as it is necessary for plants and animals to survive. Then it moves onto "The Water Cycle" and breaks it down for the reader, then onto clouds and the components of a cloud such as droplets, rain clouds, raindrops and then rain. Then onto the different rain clouds, there are such as stratus, nimbostratus, cumulus, and cumulonimbus rain clouds. The book then continues on to talk about the different types of rain such as drizzle, shower, rain, rainstorms, thunderstorms, and flash floods. The last thing the book mentions is how to stay safe during the rain.

In my classroom, I would use this as an intro to the water cycle and then a segway on the different kinds of weather. I would have the students, in the beginning, make a water cycle foldable and then move on to making different foldables.

I think the age group is appropriate because 3rd through 5th is when students start to learn about earth science and this relates to earth science.

Freshwater Habitats

Title: Freshwater Habitats
Author/Illustrator: Diana Snowball and Cynthia A. Belcher
Genre: Informational
Age Group: 2nd through 4th

                                                 
Summary:
This informational book takes the reader through the freshwater habitat, hence the title. It starts by talking about exploring the area of freshwater habitats and the animals that live around the area. Then going onto the foodchains. It covers marshes, lakes, streams and so on. It has a glossary and an index at the end of the book.

I would use this book for another research project in my classroom. As an independent read I think the age group of 2nd - 4th is appropriate because it is easy to understand and follow.