Name: ______Betty Liu_______

Resource organization chart

Unit Focus:_________2nd grade________ (Grade)
Resource

Medium

Annotation/Rationale for use

Resource Limitations/Comments

A Is for Africa, by Ifeoma

Onyefulu

Book

To introduce students to the

continent of Africa, knowing that
Africa is not a country; learn
general facts about Africa
countries

Cheetahs, by Dianne M.
MacMillan

Book

Cultures of the World

Mali, by
Ettagale Blauer & Jason
Laure

Book

One of the animals that are found

in Mali. Informational text that is
used for literacy read aloud to
practice the skill of finding
authors points and supporting
reasons; also a mentor text for
informational writing
A mentor text to introduce
students to contemporary Mali;
paragraphs can be chosen as
individual readings for assessment
for social studies

This book has great

photographs---not illustrations
but photographs, which I think
really bring the students into
knowing about different
cultures. The combination of
texts and photographs provide
lots of useful information
Since it is an informational
text, it could be less appealing
to students; however, there are
lots of information that
students could capture for their
informational writing
The book is a little too long and
contains information from the
history to the present, but the
rich texts and photographs on
different categories can be
used as mentor texts when
they start creating their own
parts of the book of Mali

Elephant Have Right of

Way: Life with the Wild
Animals of Africa, by
Betty Leslie-Melville

Book

Mentor text for informational

writing and read alouds. Same as
the book of Cheetah, to practice
the skill of finding authors points
and supporting reasons

Also a long book, but with nice

photographs of different
animals of Africa. The author is
writing in first person
perspective and it would be
more engaging than a pure
informational text

Hows the weather? by

Pat Cusick

Book

Use certain pages for read alouds

to practice the skill of comparing
and contrasting different texts on
the same topic as well as used for
introductory texts to the weather
component in science

Lions, by Susan Schafer

Book

Mali - Crossroads of
Africa, by Philip Koslow

Book

Used as mentor text for

informational writing and read
alouds to practice the skill of
finding authors points and
supporting reasons in the same
way Cheetahs and Elephants are
used
Mentor text for introducing the
ancient history of Mali

It is a very useful informational

text for both compare and
contrast and introducing to
science unit. There are
photographs, illustrations and
weather charts that shows
students the use of weather
symbols and calendars
Vivid photographs and
descriptions would always
attract students interests; not
going to read the whole book,
just pick certain pages to
initiate turn and talks

Mali in Pictures, by
Francesca Davis Di Piazza

Book

Mentor text for introducing the

contemporary Mali

Mansa Musa Leader of

Mali, by Lisa Zamosky

Book

Read aloud for social studies to

introduce Malis ancient history as

Very nice maps of ancient Mali

and pictures of artifacts that
present information visually to
the students
It is also a long book, but it
covers a wide range of aspects
about Mali and provides
detailed facts and photographs
I like the way how pictures and
texts seem to be really

well as famous people

Meet Our New Student
from Mali, by Oludamini
Ogunnaike

Book

Read aloud for social studies on

contemporary Mali

Sundiata by Pat Cusick

Book

The Magic Gourd, by

Baba Wague Diakite

Book

Read aloud for social studies to

introduce Malis ancient history as
well as famous people; Mansa
Musa and Sundiata are the two
people that have to be included in
the context
Read aloud for social studies (Mali
folktale)

The Legend of Timbuktu,

by BAIT-TV

Video

A short documentary that leads

student into learning the ancient
history of Mali (the region of Mali
Empire was different than the
country Mali as it is now)

balanced on each page while

passing on detailed
information.
It is half informational and half
fiction. There is a very
interesting art craft activity
that students could try at the
end of the book if materials are
available: to make a Kanaga
mask
It is a little long so it may need
to be divided into two parts
depending on time

It is nice to introduce the

students to Mali folktales since
they rarely have chances to
read the folktale from a specific
African country. It is an
interesting book that teaches
the lesson of being generous
and friendly
It is about the right length and
a very well made video that
presents a preview of the
secret history of Ancient Africa,
which tells about the empires
of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai,
who became the most
advanced civilizations of their

time

The Rough Guide to the

Music of Mali

Music CD

Culture experience for students in

music class

Weather by Kingfisher
Readers

Book

Weather Forcasting by
Galil Gibbons

Book

Bamako, Mali Weather

Website

Read aloud for literacy to practice

the skill of comparing and
contrasting, as well as an
introductory text to the science
unit
Mentor text for science unit on
who meteorologist are, how to
record weather and to keep
weather journals
Website to check on the weather
of Malis capital, Bamako

It would be something fun and

relaxing for students to learn;
not only the history and the
people, but also the traditional
arts
It talks about different types of
clouds, rain and snow,
lightening and thunder,
tornadoes and hurricanes, and
the color of the sky
I like how there are detailed
explanations on different terms
that meteorologists use in
weather forecasting
To inform students that there
are different ways to gather
data/information on weather
except for personal observation