Hattie Big Sky by Kirby LarsonHattie Big Sky is a realistic fiction work for grades 6- 8 and was awarded the Newbery Honor Award. This book tells the story of 16 year old Hattie, who has spent her life living with many different relatives. When her uncle dies and leaves his farm to Hattie, she courageously leaves Iowa and moves to Montana to begin her life as a Homestead. Hattie faces many hardships, but survives due to her friendship with Charlie, who serve in the military in France, and her neighbors the Muellers, who help her throughout her new life. Her life on the farm also tests her identity as an American among so many German people. After reading this book, a science lesson could be taught in which students are asked to explore the interactive website called whopooped.org, in which they learn about the life cycle of different plants and animals that live on a farm like Hattie's. This would serve as a great science lesson.
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Three Times Lucky by Sheila TurnageThree times lucky is a realistic fiction work which won the Newbery Honor Award in 2013. Its reading level is grades 5-7. This book tells the story of Mo Lobeau, a sixth grade girl who was washed ashore during a flood when she was 5 years old. Mo lives in North Carolina with a colonel and Miss Lana, who own a cafe together. Mo and her friend, Dale, embark on a detective mission when a man is found murdered and the colonel and Miss Lana go missing. After a great pursuit of Slate, the man responsible, Mo and the town are able to learn a lot about their town and the mysterious happenings within it. This book, although realistic fiction, is one in which there are many twists and turns and mysterious events. In order to practice keeping up with complex plots such as this, a teacher could ask the students to create a timeline of all of the major events in the book. This would be a great activity not only for understanding complex plots, but also for identifying major events in a complicated, fast-moving book.
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To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper LeeTo Kill A Mockingbird is a realistic fiction novel that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and is intended for grades 8-12. The book tells the story of six-year old Scout, her older brother Jem, and their widowed, lawyer father, Atticus. The book takes place during the Great Depression, when a black man is convicted of raping a white woman. Atticus is asked to defend the man, Tom, and his two children become involved in the case, defending their father and Tom as well. This gets them into trouble, when they are attacked, but saved by "Boo" Radley, their mysterious neighbor who leaves them small gifts yet is never seen. This even causes Scout to contemplate Boo's life and perspective. As an activity for this book, a teacher could conduct a history lesson on the Great Depression. Students could be asked to research The Great Depression, how it came to be, and how it affected the nation. This would be great for teaching about such an important part of our nation's history.
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Walk Two Moons by Sharon CreechWalk Two Moons is a realistic fiction work that is intended for grades 6-8, and is a Newbery award winner. The book is narrated by Sal Hiddle, a 13 year old girl whose parents have recently separated. Sal travels with her grandparents across the country to Idaho to see her mother, a journey which reveals a lot about her thoughts and feelings concerning her mother's departure, as she tells her grandparents about her friends, Phoebe and Ben. Phoebe's mother also left, and Sal's recount of her story emphasize this book's themes of despair and love. A teacher could create a lesson plan for two different content areas, by combining history and creative writing. Students would be asked to brainstorm and come up with one event which shaped their life, either positively or negatively. They would then be asked to find one person in history who went through something similar in his or her life, and write a short essay comparing the two.
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Crossover by Kwayme AlexanderCrossover is a realistic fiction book that won the Newbery Award and the Coretta Scott King Award. It is intended for grades 5-7. This book tells the story of Josh and Jordan, two brothers who share a love for basketball, which is rooted in their father's career as a professional basketball player. Josh and Jordan experience a strain in their relationship, as factors like a new girlfriend, their father's retirement and illness, and a suspension from school make them drift farther and farther apart from one another. As Josh plays in his championship game, he learns that his father has died from a heart attack, and after a great deal of grieving, the brothers are once again able to be the close brothers they were before. This book could be used for a science and health lesson, as Josh and Jordan's father experiences a great amount of illnesses. Students could research the illnesses he experiences, such as tendonitis, hypertension, myocardial infarction, and a heart attack, and learn about them individually and also how they are linked. This would teach the students about illnesses, such as tendonitis, that a lot of athletes suffer from, and would help them in their future, as many students play sports at some point in their academic career.
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Criss Cross by Lynne Rae PerkinsCriss Cross is a realistic fiction work that won the Newbery Medal and is intended for grades 8-12. The book focuses in on a girl named Debbie, who has a close-knit group of friends who have spent many relaxed summers together. The girls are also connected through a necklace, which seems to help them throughout major events in their lives, as they separate for a summer as Debbie experiences a new job, a new romance, and much more. This is a great book, which deals with large themes such as maturity, friendship and self-identity. A teacher could create a lesson centered on creative writing by a asking the students to write about their own friendships and how those friendships have shaped their lives. The students would thus be assigned an essay on a friendship they had when they were young, how it affected them, and how that friendship changed or ended as they grew older. This would be a great assignment for creative writing and brainstorming.
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Maniac Magee by Jerry SpinelliManiac Magee is a realistic fiction novel that is intended for grades 5-8. It received the Newbery Medal and the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award. The book focuses on the life of Jeffrey Magee, whose parents died in a tragic trolley accident when he was only 3 years old. Tired of living with his miserable aunt and uncle, Jeffrey runs away, across the river to Two Mills, which is separated into the East and the West End. The story continues as Jeffrey meets a friend named Amanda, and accomplishes many great athletic feats which angers the townspeople. The book focuses on themes such as racism and courage, as Jeffrey continues his life as a homeless, yet wonderfully athletic and daring boy. A lesson plan could be created for this book in the content area of history. After reading the book or a portion of the book, students would be asked to research the law that ended slavery (Slavery Abolition Act of 1833) and segregation (Civil Rights Act of 1964) for homework. The class would then discuss the necessity of these laws, and the harm that segregation does to a society, including segregation that still exists today due to race, religion, politics, and other factors. The students could then, as a class, go to the computer lab and complete this online activity in order to complete the lesson on segregation and its detrimental effects on society. http://ncase.me/polygons/
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The Outsiders by S.E. HintonThe Outsiders is a realistic fiction novel that won the Margaret Edwards Award and is intended for grades 8-12. This book focuses on the life of Ponyboy, a member of a gang called the Greasers, who find their rival in the Socs. Ponyboy experiences a great amount of turmoil in his life, as many fights occur between the two gangs, one in which his friend Johnny stabs and kills a Soc member. Ponyboy and Johnny retreat to an abandoned church in order to avoid charges and execution. After a heroic event of saving children from that same burning church, the boys are forced to go home and face their charges. Both Johnny and his friend Dally die, and Ponyboy is distraught. The book ends as he completes a moving English assignment, remembering the recent events in his life. After reading this book, a lesson could be taught in the content area of writing. Students would be asked to choose one poem that had been studied in their poetry unit. They could read the poem, and choose at least five lines from the poem to be incorporated into their own, new poem. This would not only gain practice in writing poetry, but also in noticing themes and symbols in poetry that can be related to one's own life.
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Holes by Louis SacharHoles is a realistic fiction novel that won the Newbery Medal and is intended for grades 5-9. The book tells the story of Stanley Yelnats, a 14 year old whose family is under a "curse" of bad luck due to his stealing grandfather. The story begins as Stanley is wrongly accused of stealing shoes from an orphanage, and is thus sent to a juvenile imprisonment and disciplinary facility called Camp Green Lake. In this camp, they are forced to dig one hole each day in order to build character in the hot, dry dessert. The book unfolds as Stanley realizes that they are digging not only for character, but for something mysterious and hidden beneath the sand. This book could be used to teach a lesson on irony found in literature. The students would be asked to study the book and specific chapters and come up with at least 5 examples of irony, along with a short explanation of how this irony adds to the work and develops its themes and meaning.
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